8        Development  of  Religion  in  China 


ment  and  to  avert  its  detrimental  influences.  A 
principal  sub-division  of  that  system  was  the 
worship  of  the  Universe,  that  is  to  say,  the  propitia- 
tion of  a  host  of  gods,  which  being  components  of 
the  Universe  in  visible  or  invisible  shape,  manifest 
themselves  in  its  ways  and  works. 

The  Chinese  themselves,  from  a  remote  an- 
tiquity, have  called  the  system  the  Jen  Tao,  or 
*'Tao  of  Man,"  in  contradistinction  to  the  Tao 
of  the  Universe,  which  it  pretends  to  copy.  And 
this  universal  Tao  is  divided  by  them  into  two 
parts,  namely  the  THen  Tao,  or  "Tao  of  Heaven, " 
and  the  T'i  Tao,  or  ''Tao  of  the  Earth. "  It  goes 
without  saying  (as  the  Chinese  themselves  hold) 
that  the  Tao  of  Heaven  is  paramount  in  power  to 
the  Tao  of  the  Earth,  as  it  is  in  fact  through 
Heaven, — through  its  warmth  and  rains' — that  the 
annual  process  of  creation  is  performed.  Heaven, 
accordingly,  is  the  highest  god  which  the  Chinese 
possess.  There  is,  indeed,  in  the  Chinese  system 
no  god  beyond  the  Cosmos,  no  maker  of  it,  no 
Yahweh,  no  Allah.  Creation  is  simply  the  yearly 
renovation  of  Nature,  the  spontaneous  work  of 
Heaven  and  Earth,  repeating  itself  in  every  revolu- 
tion of  the  Tao. 


The  Tao  or  Order  of  the  Universe 


The  name  Taoism,  which  we  are  wont  to  give 
to  the  system,  is,  as  we  see,  correctly  chosen,  and 
there  is  no  reason  to  banish  it  from  our  science  of 
reHgions.  In  fact,  the  Chinese  themselves  employ 
the  terms  Tao  Mao,  "Doctrine  of  the  Tao,"  and 
Tao  mun,  ''School  of  the  Tao. " 

Contemplation  of  the  Universe  and  study  of  its 
laws  did  not,  in  China,  develop  into  a  correct 
science  of  Nature,  dethroning  the  gods  who  were 
its  parts  and  phenomena.  Universism  has  out- 
lived all  ages,  especially  in  the  conservative  classi- 
cal form,  which  we  know  as  Confucianism.  I  have 
stated  that  its  pristine  principles  are  contained  in 
the  Classics,  which  are  the  holy  bibles  of  Confu- 
cianism and  Taoism.  The  holiest  of  these  books  is 
the  Yih  king,  esteemed  holiest  because  it  divulges 
the  first  principles  of  the  system.  Its  third  Appen- 
dix, entitled Hi-tsze or  "Appended  Explanations,  '* 
the  authorship  of  which  many  Chinese  scholars 
and  critics  attribute  to  Confucius,  describes  the 
Universe  as  a  living  machine  or  organism,  which 
it  calls  Tai-Kih  or  "Supreme  Apex, "  or  "Most  Ul- 
timate."  This  produced  the  "two  Regulating 
Powers'*  or  Liang  /,  which  are  cosmic  souls  or 
breaths,  called   Yang  and   Yin.     These  souls  re- 


AMERICAN  LECTURES  ON  THE 
HISTORY  OF  RELIGIONS 

SERIES  OF  1910-1911 


RELIGION   IN  CHINA 

UNIVERSISM:  A  KEY  TO  THE  STUDY 
OF  TAOISM  AND  CONFUCIANISM 


BY 

J.  J.  M.  DE  GROOT,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

Professor  of  Sinology  in  the  University  of  Berlin 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

NEW    YORK   AND    LONDON 

^be  Iftnicfterbocftcc  preae 
1912 


l\J^j 


G-'/JL 


Copyright,  1912 

BY 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


Ube  liniclierbociiev  press*  'Rew  ]2ocft 


MY   OLD 

FATHER  AND   MOTHER 


258874 


PREFACE 

THE  object  of  the  writer  of  this  book  is  to  exhibit 
his  view  of  the  primitive  and  fundamental 
element  of  Chinese  religion  and  ethics.  That  view 
is  based  on  independent  research  into  the  ancient 
literature  of  China  and  into  the  actual  state  of  her 
religion. 

The  evident  necessity  to  study  that  primitive 
element  from  ancient  Chinese  books  has  compelled 
the  author  to  quote  a  great  number  of  passages 
from  those  books.  Without  using  the  building 
materials,  he  could  not  build.  He  has  translated 
the  passages  independently  from  former  translators, 
but  with  conscientious  consultation  of  the  opinions 
of  native  commentators.  The  source  of  every 
quotation  is  faithfully  mentioned.  Short  notes 
about  the  sources  can  be  found  in  the  book  by 
means  of  the  Index,  so  that  there  is  no  need  of 
describing  or  summarising  them  here. 

In  the  conviction  that  his  view  on  the  funda- 
mental element  of  Chinese  religion  and  ethics  is 


yi  Preface 

correct,  the  writer  confidently  gives  this  book  as 
a  key  to  the  study  of  Taoism  and  Confucianism. 
No  such  key  has  as  yet  been  offered.  In  1893  he 
afforded  one  for  the  study  of  Mahayana  Buddhism 
under  the  title  of  Le  Code  du  Mahayana  en  Chine. 
He  cherishes  the  confident  hope  that  the  two  works 
may  encourage  the  serious  study  of  a  most  im- 
portant branch  of  science,  which  to  this  day 
remains  altogether  too  much  under  the  sway  of 
superficial  dilettantism,  in  Europe  as  well  as  in 
America. 

In  the  Chinese  terms  the  consonants  are  pro- 
nounced as  in  English,  and  the  vowels  as  in  German 
or  Italian. 

De  Gr. 

Leiden, 
27  August,  191 1. 


ANNOUNCEMENT. 

THE  American  Lectures  on  the  History  of 
Religions  are  delivered  under  the  auspices 
of  the  American  Committee  for  Lectures  on  the 
History  of  Religions.  This  Committee  was  or- 
ganised in  1892,  for  the  purpose  of  instituting 
*' popular  courses  in  the  History  of  Religions, 
somewhat  after  the  style  of  the  Hibbert  Lectures 
in  England,  to  be  delivered  by  the  best  scholars 
of  Europe  and  this  country,  in  various  cities,  such 
as  Baltimore,  Boston,  Brooklyn,  Chicago,  New 
York,  Philadelphia,  and  others." 

The  terms  of  association  imder  which  the  Com- 
mittee exists  are  as  follows : 

I. — The  object  of  this  Association  shall  be  to 
provide  courses  of  lectures  on  the  history  of 
religions,  to  be  delivered  in  various  cities. 

2. — The  Association  shall  be  composed  of  dele- 
gates from  the  institutions  agreeing  to  co-operate, 
with  such  additional  members  as  may  be  chosen 
by  these  delegates. 


viii  Announcement 


3. — These  delegates — one  from  each  institution, 
with  the  additional  members  selected — shall  con- 
stitute themselves  a  Council  under  the  name  of 
the  "American  Committee  for  Lectures  on  the 
History  of  Religions." 

4. — The  Council  shall  elect  out  of  its  number  a 
Chairman,  a  Secretary,  and  a  Treasurer. 

5. — All  matters  of  local  detail  shall  be  left  to 
the  co-operating  institution  under  whose  auspices 
the  lectures  are  to  be  delivered. 

6. — A  course  of  lectures  on  some  religion,  or 
phase  of  religion,  from  an  historical  point  of  view, 
or  on  a  subject  germane  to  the  study  of  religions, 
shall  be  delivered  annually,  or  at  such  intervals  as 
may  be  found  practicable,  in  the  different  cities 
represented  by  this  Association. 

7. — The  Council  (a)  shall  be  charged  with  the 
selection  of  the  lectures,  (b)  shall  have  charge  of 
the  funds,  (c)  shall  assign  the  time  for  the  lectures 
in  each  city,  and  perform  such  other  functions  as 
may  be  necessary. 

8. — Polemical  subjects,  as  well  as  polemics  in 
the  treatment  of  subjects,  shall  be  positively 
excluded. 

9. — The  lectures  shall  be  delivered  in  the  various 


Announcement  ix 


cities  between  the  months  of  September  and 
June. 

lo. — The  copyright  of  the  lectures  shall  be  the 
property  of  the  Association. 

II. — The  compensation  of  the  lecturer  shall  be 
fixed  in  each  case  by  the  Council. 

12. — The  lecturer  shall  be  paid  in  instalments 
after  each  course,  until  he  shall  have  received  half 
of  the  entire  compensation.  Of  the  remaining 
half,  one  half  shall  be  paid  to  him  upon  delivery 
of  the  manuscript,  properly  prepared  for  the  press, 
and  the  second  half  on  the  publication  of  the 
volume,  less  a  deduction  for  corrections  made  by 
the  author  in  the  proofs. 

The  Committee  as  now  constituted  is  as  follows: 

Prof.  Crawford  H.  Toy,  Chairman,  7  Lowell  St., 
Cambridge,  Mass.;  Rev.  Dr.  John  P.  Peters, 
Treasurer,  227  W.  99th  St.,  New  York  City;  Prof. 
Morris  Jastrow,  Jr.,  Secretary,  248  So.  23d  St., 
Philadelphia,  Pa. ;  President  Francis  Brown,  Union 
Theological  Seminary,  New  York  City;  Prof. 
Richard  Gottheil,  Columbia  University,  New 
York  City ;  Prof.  Robert  F.  Harper,  University  of 
Chicago,  Chicago,  111.;  Prof.  Paul  Haupt,  Johns 
Hopkins  University,  Baltimore,  Md.;  Prof.  F.  W. 


X  Announcement 

Hooper,  Brooklyn  Institute  of  Arts  and  Sciences; 
Prof.  E.  W.  Hopkins, Yale  University,  New  Haven, 
Conn.;  Prof.  Edward  Knox  Mitchell,  Hartford 
Theological  Seminary,  Hartford,  Conn. ;  President 
F.  K.  Sanders,  Washburn  College,  Topeka,  Kan. ; 
Prof.  H.  P.  Smith,  Meadville  Theological  Seminary, 
Meadville,  Pa. 

The  lecturers  in  the  course  of  American  Lectures 
on  the  History  of  Religions  and  the  titles  of  their 
volumes  are  as  follows : 
1 894-1 895— Prof.    T.    W.    Rhys-Davids,    Ph.D., 

— Buddhism. 
1 896-1 897— Prof.  Daniel  G.  Brinton,  M.D.,  LL.D. 

— ReHgions  of  Primitive  Peoples. 
1897-1898— Rev.   Prof.   T.   K.   Cheyne,   D.D.— 

Jewish  Religious  Life  after  the  Exile. 
1 898-1 899— Prof.  Karl  Budde,  D.D.— Religion  of 

Israel  to  the  Exile. 
1904-1905— Prof.  George  Steindorff,  Ph.D.— The 

Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians. 
1905-1906 — Prof.  George  W.  Knox,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

— The  Development  of  Religion  in 

Japan. 
1906-1907 — Prof.     Maurice    Bloomfield,    Ph.D., 

LL.D.— The  Religion  of  the  Veda. 


Announcement  xi 


1907-1908— Prof.  A.  V.  W.  Jackson,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

— The  Religion  of  Persia.  * 
1 909-1 9 1  a— Prof.   Morris  Jastrow,   Jr.,   Ph.D. — 
Aspects    of    Religious    Belief    and 
Practice  in  Babylonia  and  Assyria. 
1910-1911— Prof.   J.   J.   M.    DeGroot— The   De- 
velopment of  Religion  in  China. 
191 1-1912 — Prof.  Franz  Cumont.  t — Astrology  and 
Religion   among   the   Greeks   and 
Romans. 
The  lecturer  for  1910-1911  was  Prof.  J.  J.  M. 
DeGroot.     A  native  of  Holland,  Prof.  DeGroot 
enrolled  as  a  student  in  the  University  of  Ley  den. 
Subsequently  he  became  interpreter  for  Chinese 
languages  in  Java  and  in  Borneo.     He  was  nearly 
six  years  in  the  East  studying  the  Chinese  people 
and  their  languages.     In  1891,  he  returned  to  his 
alma  mater  as  professor,  an  ofHce  which  he  held 

*  This  course  was  not  published  by  the  Committee,  but  will 
form  part  of  Prof.  Jackson's  volume  on  the  Religion  of  Persia  in 
the  series  of  "Handbooks  on  the  History  of  Religions,"  edited 
by  Prof.  Morris  Jastrow,  Jr.,  and  pubHshed  by  Messrs.  Ginn  & 
Company  of  Boston.  Prof.  Jastrow's  volume  is,  therefore,  the 
eighth  in  the  series. 

t  Owing  to  special  circumstances,  Prof.  Cumont's  volume  was 
pubHshed  before  that  of  Prof.  DeGroot.  It  is,  therefore,  the 
ninth  in  the  series  and  that  of  Prof.  DeGroot  the  tenth. 


xii  Announcement 


till  1911.  In  January,  1912,  he  was  appointed 
Professor  of  Sinology  in  the  University  of  Berhn. 

The  lectures  contained  in  this  volume  were 
delivered  before  the  following  institutions: 

Johns  Hopkins  University,  Lowell  Institute, 
Brooklyn  Institute  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  Univer- 
sity of  Chicago,  Meadville  Theological  Seminary, 
Yale  University,  Columbia  University,  and  Drexel 

Institute. 

John  P.  Peters, 

C.  H.  Toy, 

Committee  on  Publication. 
October,  191 2. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGB 

I. — ^The  Tao  or  Order  of  the  Universe        i 

Unity  of  Taoism,  Confucianism,  and  Buddhism; 
their  common  basis,  which  is  Universism — The  foun- 
dation of  the  Chinese  Empire  by  Shi-hwang,  and  the 
organisation  of  its  institutions  and  state-religion  under 
the  Han  dynasty — The  Tao  or  Order  of  the  World,  in 
accordance  with  which  man  must  live — This  discipline 
is  the  Tao  of  Man — The  Confucian  Classics  are  its 
holy  books — Universistic  Psychology,  Animism,  Poly- 
theism, and  PolydemoQism — Morality  on  the  demon- 
istic  base — -peculations  about  the  Tao — The  three 
patriarchs  of  Universism. 

II.— The  Tao  of  Man     ....       31 

Universistic  morality->ThesoCtaHawa.and  rules  of 
lifej_m:^»ieai£a-a»d--rit^s,  religion — Orthodoxy  and 
^ate-persecution — Perfection  and  divinity  are  gained 
by  gaining  the  Tao — The  Tao  is  gained  by  imitation 
of  the  Universe  or  by  assimilation  with  the  Universe — 
The  universistic  principles  of  impartiality  and  justice, 
compliance,  forbearance,  mildness,  unselfishness, 
abnegation,  humility,  absence  of  passion,  quiescence, 
inaction  or  wu-wei,  taciturnity,  etc. 

III. — Perfection,   Holiness,   or   Divinity       80 

Perfection  in    universistic    virtue  is  holiness  or 
divinity,   omnipotence,   omniscience,    omnipresence, 
xiii 


xiv  Contents 


% 


CHAPTER  PAGB 

invulnerability,  etc. — Classical  study  and  wisdom  as 
sources  of  virtue  in  the  Confucian  system — The 
position  of  the  Classics  for  China's  culture,  ethics,  and 
politics — Virtue  and  wisdom  of  emperors — The  saints 
of  Confucian  China — Holiness  or  divinity  of  the 
emperor  and  his  government — Imperial  absolutism. 

IV. — Asceticism.    Prolongation  of  Life. 

Immortality  .         .         .         .123 

Retirement  and  seclusion — ^Taoist  doctors  and 
anchorites — Hagiography — Monastic  life,  influenced 
by  Mahay anistic  Buddhism — Prolongation  of  life  and 
immortality  by  virtue — Wisdom  and  virtue  confer 
longevity  and  exorcising  magical  power — Artificial 
prolongation  of  life  by  methodical  respiration  and 
animated  medicines — The  development  of  the  medi- 
cal art  under  the  influence  of  Universism — The 
Paradise  of  Li-wang-mu  and  the  immortal  saints. 

V..— Worship  of  the  Universe        .         .176 

The  gods  of  Universism — Filial  piety  and  worship 
of  ancestors — The  creation  of  the  Taoist  Church — 
E2;orcisinej3aagic?^:^taaJ^^  — The  State 

Religion — The  popular  religion.         '~"' 

VI.— Social  and  Political  Universism  (i)    216 

The  great  duty  of  the  emperor  to  maintain' the  Tao 
of  Man  by  means  of  calendrical  rescripts  and  institu- 
tions— Chronometry  and  Chronomancy — The  impe- 
rial almanac. 

VII. — Social  and  Political  Universism  (ii)    248 

Official  observation  of  dislocations  of  the  Tao,  viz, 
extraordinary  phenomena  in  heaven  and  on  earth — 
.Divination. 


Contents  xv 


CHAPTER  PAGB; 

VIII.— FUNG-SHUI 285 

The  science  of  building  houses,  graves,  and  temples 
under  the  beneficial  influence  of  the  Universe. 

Index 321 


I 


» 


The  Development  of 
Religion  in  China 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  TAO  OR  ORDER  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

TT  is  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  that  there 
*  are  three  religions  in  China,  viz.:  Taoism, 
Confucianism,  and  Buddhism.  There  is,  however, 
a  saying  in  that  coimtry,  han  san  wei  yih,  "it 
contains  three  (religions)  and  yet  it  is  only  one 
(religion)."  Is  it  possible  to  determine  what  the 
one  religion  is,  which  the  three  are  supposed  to 
represent  ? 

It  might  be  suggested  that  the  saying  simply 
implies  that  the  three  religions  have  been  amalga- 
mated into  a  single  one.     But  if  this  were  the  case, 


I 


I 


2       Development  of  Religion  in  China 

the  three  religions  would  have  ceased  to  exist,  and 
yet  their  separate  existence  cannot  be  denied.  Or 
the  saying  might  mean  that  every  Chinese  pro- 
fesses the  three  religions  at  the  same  time.  There 
may  be  some  truth,  even  much  truth,  in  this 
plurality  of  religions  in  every  Chinaman's  creed; 
yet  it  remains  unexplained  why  three  reHgions 
should  form  a  single  one  in  the  minds  or  hearts  of 
the  people.  A  third  explanation,  namely,  that 
the  imity  of  the  three  religions  simply  means  that 
China  is  a  country  of  most  remarkable  and  exem- 
plary tolerance,  is  based  on  an  error;  the  truth  is 
that  this  supposed  tolerance  is,  and  ever  was,  a 
legend,  as  I  have  tried  to  prove  with  the  help  of 
original  historical  texts  and  imperial  laws  and 
decrees  in  a  special  work,  entitled  Sectarianism 
and  Religious  Persecution  in  China.  "■ 

It  is  evident  that  mere  suggestions  are  futile 
and  that  study  alone  can  solve  the  problem.  The 
fact  is,  that  the  three  religions  are  three  branches, 
growing  from  a  common  stem,  which  has  existed 
from  pre-historic  times;  this  stem  is  the  religion 
of  the  Universe,  its  parts  and  phenomena.     This 

^  Published  by  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences  at  Amsterdam, 
1903-1904. 


The  Tao  or  Order  of  the  Universe 


Universism,  as  I  will  henceforth  call  it,  is  the  one 
religion  of  China.  As  these  three  religions  are  its 
three  integrant  parts,  every  Chinese  can  feel 
himself  equally  at  home  in  each,  without  being 
offended  or  shocked  by  conflicting  and  mutually 
exclusive  dogmatic  principles. 

In  the  age  of  Han,  two  centuries  before  and  two 
after  the  birth  of  Christ,  the  ancient  stem  divided 
itself  into  two  branches,  Taoism  and  Confucian- 
ism, while,  simultaneously.  Buddhism  was  grafted 
upon  it.  Indeed  Buddhism  at  that  time  found  its 
way  into  China  in  an  Universistic  form,  called 
Mahayana,  and  could  therefore  live  and  thrive 
upon  the  ancient  stem.  In  this  way  the  three 
religions  appear  before  us  as  three  branches  of  one 
trunk ;  as  three  religions,  yet  one.  It  is  a  remark- 
able coincidence  that  this  greatest  moment  in  the 
development  of  religion  in  China  was  synchronous 
with  the  birth  of  Christ  and  Christianity. 

Buddhism,  being  merely  the  engrafted  branch, 
may  be  left  aside  for  the  present,  in  order  that  our 
attention  may  be  confined  in  the  first  place  to 
Taoism  and  Confucianism,  the  bifurcation  of 
ancient  Universism.  This  Universism  was  Tao- 
ism; the  two  terms  are  synonymous.     In  the  Han 


4       Development  of  Religion  in  China 

period  it  produced  a  branch,  which,  however,  did 
not  give  birth  to  any  new  religious  elements  or 
doctrines.  This  was  Confucianism,  the  State  Re- 
ligion, destined  to  become  the  pre-eminent  branch, 
sapping  and  destroying,  under  the  control  of  the 
principle  of  intolerance,  the  vitaHty  of  the  Bud- 
dhist branch,  and  preventing  Taoism  from  growing 
into  a  religion  of  paramount  importance. 

The  Chinese  Empire,  one  and  undivided,  was 
created  in  the  third  century  before  our  era.  At 
that  time,  the  powerful  Emperor  Shi-hwang  of  the 
Ts'in  dynasty,  which  had  ruled  in  the  north-west 
since  the  ninth  century  B.C.,  destroyed  the  con- 
geries of  states  that,  up  to  that  time,  had  existed 
in  the  birthplace  of  higher  East  Asian  culture,  the 
home  of  Confucius  and  Mencius,  and  the  dominion 
of  earliest  sovereigns  and  sages,  of  whom  Chinese 
myths  and  fancies  have  never  ceased  to  speak  and 
dream.  But  the  house  of  Ts'in  did  not  last  long 
enough  to  organise  the  enormous  new  empire, 
created  by  the  greatest  of  its  sons.  It  collapsed 
after  a  few  years,  giving  place  to  the  glorious  dyn- 
asty of  Han,  which  maintained  itself  and  its  throne 
till  the  third  century  of  our  era.  The  reign  of  this 
house  signified  the  permanent  triumph  of  Classic- 


The  Tao  or  Order  of  the  Universe 


ism  or  Confucianism,  that  is  to  say  of  Universism 
or  Taoism.  In  organising  the  young  empire,  its 
statesmen  built  up  a  political  constitution,  taking, 
naturally  and  systematically,  for  their  guides  the 
principles,  rules,  and  precedents  of  the  old  time, 
embodied  in  the  ancient  literature,  in  so  far  as  this 
was  not  irrecoverably  lost  in  the  flames  which  Shi- 
hwang  in  a  frenzy  of  pride  had  kindled  to  devour 
it.  With  a  view  to  the  completion  of  their  gigan- 
tic task  of  organisation,  this  classical  literature 
was  sought  for,  restored,  amended,  commented 
upon.  Thus  there  arose  a  classical,  ultra-conser- 
vative State  constitution,  which,  handed  down  as 
an  heirloom  to  all  succeeding  dynasties,  exists  to 
this  day.  The  religious  elements  contained  in  the 
Classics  were  necessarily  incorporated  with  that 
constitution,  together  with  the  political,  since 
everything  mentioned  in  the  Classics  was  to  be 
preserved  and  developed  as  a  holy  institution  of 
the  ancients;  in  other  words,  those  religious  ele- 
ments became  the  State  Religion.  This  religion, 
therefore,  is  now  fully  two  thousand  years  old. 
The  basic  principle,  Universism,  is,  of  course, 
older,  much  older  than  the  classical  writings,  by 
means  of  which  it  has  been  preserved.     As  is  the 


6        Development  of  Religion  in  China 

case  with  many  origins,  that  of  China's  Universism 
is  lost  in  the  darkness  of  antiquity. 

The  inference  is  that  the  religious  principles 
and  elements  which  are  contained  in  the  Classics, 
and  for  this  reason  are  those  of  Confucianism  to 
this  day,  are  the  ancient  principles  of  Universism  or 
Taoism,  and  that  the  Classics  are,  accordingly,  the 
bibles  of  both  Confucianism  and  Taoism.  We  have 
now  in  the  first  place  to  see  what  these  principles 
are,  and  what,  accordingly,  is  the  character  and  core 
of  the  ancient  and  present  religion  of  East  Asia. 

Universism  is  Taoism.  Indeed,  its  starting-point 
is. the  Tao,  which  means  the  Road  or  Way,  that  is 
to~  say,  the  Road  or  Way  in  which  the  Universe 
moves,  its  methods  and  its  processes,  its  conduct 
and  operation,  the  complex  of  phenomena  regu- 
larly recurring  in  it,  in  short,  the  Order  of  the 
World,  Nature,  or  Natural  Order.  It  actually  is 
in  the  main  the  annual  rotation  of  the  seasons  pro- 
ducing the  process  of  growth,  or  renovation  and 
decay;  it  may  accordingly  be  called  Time,  the 
creator  and  destroyer. 

Man  through  obscure  ages  has  mused  on 
Nature's  awful  power,  and  realised  his  absolute 


The  Tao  or  Order  of  the  Universe 


dependence  on  it  ...Thus  the  conviction  has  ripened 
in  him  that  to  exist  and  to  live  in  a  happy  state, 
he  shotdd  comport  himself,  as  perfectly  as  possible, 
in  accordance  with  the  universe.  Should  his  acts 
disagree  with  that  almighty  Tao,  a  conflict  must 
necessarily  ensue,  in  which  he  as  the  immensely 
weaker  party  must  inevitably  succumb.  Such 
meditations  have  led  him  into  the  path  of  philoso- 
phy— to  the  study  and  discovery  of  the  character- 
istics of  the  Tao,  of  the  means  of  acquiring  these 
for  himself,  and  of  framing  his  conduct  upon  them ; 
in  other  words,  Man,  conceiving  the  Universe  as  an 
animated  Universe,  which  imposed  its  will  imperi- 
ously and  irresistibly,  tried  to  learn  this  will,  to 
submit  to  it  humbly,  and  to  obey  it  implicitly. 

It  is  evident  that  this  was  a  catholic  system, 
calculated  to  embrace  the  whole  sphere  of  human 
life  and  action.  It  stands  before  us,  in  fact,  as  a 
system  of  discipline  and  ethics  based  upon  obser- 
vation, divination,  and  imitation  of  Nattire,  and 
giving  birth  to  a  vast  compoimd  of  private,  domes- 
tic, and  social  rules  of  conduct,  extending  even  to 
political  institutions  and  laws,  everything  in  which 
was  directed  to  this  one  aim:  to  attract  Nature's 
beneficial  influences  to  the  people  and  its  govern- 


8        Development  of  Religion  in  China 


ment  and  to  avert  its  detrimental  influences.  A 
principal  sub-division  of  that  system  was  the 
worship  of  the  Universe,  that  is  to  say,  the  propitia- 
tion of  a  host  of  gods,  which  being  components  of 
the  Universe  in  visible  or  invisible  shape,  manifest 
themselves  in  its  ways  and  works. 

The  Chinese  themselves,  from  a  remote  an- 
tiquity, have  called  the  system  the  Jen  Tao,  or 
"Tao  of  Man,"  in  contradistinction  to  the  Tao 
of  the  Universe,  which  it  pretends  to  copy.  And 
this  universal  Tao  is  divided  by  them  into  two 
parts,  namely  the  Tien  TaOj  or  "Tao  of  Heaven,  '* 
and  the  Ti  Tao,  or  "Tao  of  the  Earth. "  It  goes 
without  saying  (as  the  Chinese  themselves  hold) 
that  the  Tao  of  Heaven  is  paramount  in  power  to 
the  Tao  of  the  Earth,  as  it  is  in  fact  through 
Heaven,' — through  its  warmth  and  rains- — that  the 
annual  process  of  creation  is  performed.  Heaven, 
accordingly,  is  the  highest  god  which  the  Chinese 
possess.  There  is,  indeed,  in  the  Chinese  system 
no  god  beyond  the  Cosmos,  no  maker  of  it,  no 
Yahweh,  no  Allah.  Creation  is  simply  the  yearly 
renovation  of  Nature,  the  spontaneous  work  of 
Heaven  and  Earth,  repeating  itself  in  every  revolu- 
tion of  the  Tao. 


The  Tao  or  Order  of  the  Universe 


The  name  Taoism,  which  we  are  wont  to  give 
to  the  system,  is,  as  we  see,  correctly  chosen,  and 
there  is  no  reason  to  banish  it  from  our  science  of 
reHgions.  In  fact,  the  Chinese  themselves  employ 
the  terms  Tao  kiao,  "Doctrine  of  the  Tao,"  and 
Tao  mun,  "School  of  the  Tao. " 

Contemplation  of  the  Universe  and  study  of  its 
laws  did  not,  in  China,  develop  into  a  correct 
science  of  Nature,  dethroning  the  gods  who  were 
its  parts  and  phenomena.  Universism  has  out- 
lived all  ages,  especially  in  the  conservative  classi- 
cal form,  which  we  know  as  Confucianism.  I  have 
stated  that  its  pristine  principles  are  contained  in 
the  Classics,  which  are  the  holy  bibles  of  Confu- 
cianism and  Taoism.  The  holiest  of  these  books  is 
the  Yih  king,  esteemed  holiest  because  it  divulges 
the  first  principles  of  the  system.  Its  third  Appen- 
dix, entitled Hi-ts'ze or  "Appended  Explanations,  '* 
the  authorship  of  which  many  Chinese  scholars 
and  critics  attribute  to  Confucius,  describes  the 
Universe  as  a  living  machine  or  organism,  which 
it  calls  Tai-Kih  or  "Supreme  Apex, "  or  "Most  Ul- 
timate."  This  produced  the  "two  Regulating 
Powers'*  or  Liang  7,  which  are  cosmic  souls  or 
breaths,  called   Yang  and   Yin.     These  souls  re- 


10     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


present  the  male  and  the  female  parts  of  the 
Universe,  assimilated  respectively  with  the  fruc- 
tifying heaven  and  the  earth  which  it  fructifies, 
as  also  with  warmth  and  cold,  and  light  and 
darkness.  "There  is,'*  as  the  Appended  Explana- 
tions state,  "in  the  system  of  mutations  [of 
Nattu-e]  the  Most  Ultimate  which  produced  the 
.  two  Regulating  Powers,  which  produce  the  four 
shapes  [or  seasons]."  It  is  these  two  powers 
which  constitute  the  Tao,  for  the  Appended 
Explanations  add  explicitly  "that  the  universal 
Yin  and  the  universal  Yang  are  the  Tao";  indeed 
the  process  of  Nature  or  Universal  Order  is  the 
annual  mixture,  in  various  degrees,  of  cold  and 
warmth,  by  which  the  seasons  are  produced  and 
the  processes  of  birth  and  decay  are  carried  out. 
These  processes  are  called  yih,  "changes  or  muta- 
tions"; "the  processes  of  birth  and  re-birth,  or  of 
production  of  life,  are  the  yihy "  say  the  Appended 
Explanations.  Hence  the  title  of  the  Yih  kingy 
"holy  Book  of  the  Mutations."  These  muta- 
tions being  the  manifestation  of  the  Tao,  and  thus 
actually  the  Tao  itself,  Chinese  scholars  fre- 
quently describe  the  Tao  as  "the  revolving  mu- 
tations of  the   Yin  and  Yang/'  or   "the  annual 


The  Tao  or  Order  of  the  Universe     ii 


revolution  of  changes  produced  by  the  Yin  and 
Yang,''  or  "the  changes  which  the  Yin  and  Yang 
produce.** 

Ancient  and  modem  authors  are  wont  to  define 
the  Tao  of  the  Universe  as  "the  way  of  the  road 
of  the  Yin  and  Yang.''  The  Yin  is  assimilated 
with  the  Earth,  which  is  cold  and  dark,  and  the 
Yang  with  Heaven,  which  is  warm  and  limiinous; 
they  are  respectively  the  female  and  the  male  of 
the  soul  of  the  Cosmos,  its  Anima  and  its  Animus. 

I  have  said  that  the  Tao  of  Man  is  a  line  of 
conduct,  which  pretends  to  be  an  imitation  of  the 
Tao  of  Heaven  and  Earth,  calculated  to  make  him 
happy.  It  is  prescribed  by  his  absolute  depend- 
ence on  the  Universe  for  his  birth  and  life.  This 
dependence  is  emphasised  by  the  classical  dogma 
that  Man  borrows  his  own  vital  spirits  from  the 
dual  soul  of  the  Universe,  and  thus  actually  is  a 
product  of  these  powers,  as  also  by  the  fact  that 
his  material  body  is  shaped  out  of  the  same  ele- 
ments which  constitute  the  Universe.  Indeed  in 
the  Li  ki,  the  most  voluminous  collection  of  classi- 
cal books,  we  read,  "Man  is  a  product  of  the  bene- 
ficial operation  of  Heaven  and  Earth,  or  of  the 
copulation  of  the  Yin  and  the  Yang,  and  the  imion 


12     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


of  a  kwei  with  a  shen;  he  consists  of  the  finest 
breath  which  the  five  elements  contain."^  Thus 
ancient  philosophy  described  Man  as  a  compound 
^\  of  a  kwei  and  a  shen,  two  souls  respectively  related, 
as  the  context  of  this  passage  suggests,  with  the 
Yin,  or  terrestrial  matter,  and  with  the  Yang,  or 
immaterial  celestial  substance. 

In  the  same  great  classic,  which  has  to  the 
present  day  narrowly  confined  Chinese  thought 
within  the  limits  of  its  doctrines,  we  do  not  search 
in  vain  for  more  dogmatic  teaching  about  the 
nature  of  Man's  dual  soul  and  its  relation  with  the 
Universe.     It  states  that, 

"  Tsai  Ngo  said,  *I  have  heard  the  words  kwei 
and  shen,  but  I  do  not  know  their  meaning ' ; 
and  that  Confucius  thereupon  said  to  him: 
'The  khi  or  breath  is  the  full  manifestation  of 
the  shen,  and  the  p'oh  is  the  full  manifestation 
of  the  kwei;  the  union  of  the  kwei  with  the  shen 
is  the  highest  9f  all  doctrines.  Living  beings 
must  all  die,  and  the  soul  which  must  then  return 
to  earth  is  that  which  is  called  kwei.  But  while 
the  bones  and  the  flesh  moulder  in  the  ground 

»  The  book  called  Li  yun,  III. 


The  Tao  or  Order  of  the  Universe     13 


and  imperceptibly  become  the  earth  of  the  fields, 
the  khi  or  breath  departs  to  move  on  high  as  a 
shining  Hght'."' 

This  instructive  paragraph  is  the  ftmdamental 
dogma  of  Taoist  and  Confucianist  psychology.  It 
teaches  that  the  imiversal  Yang  and  Yin  are 
divided  into  an  indefinite  number  of  souls  or 
spirits,  respectively  called  shen  and  kwei;  the  shen 
represent  light,  warmth,  productivity,  life,  which 
are  the  special  qualities  of  the  Yang;  and  the  kwei 
darkness,  cold,  sterility,  death,  which  are  the 
attributes  of  the  Yin.  The  soul  of  Man,  like  that 
of  any  living  being,  consists  of  a  shen  and  a  kwei 
or  p'oh;  his  birth  is  an  infusion  of  these  souls,  his  \ 
death  is  their  departure,  the  shen  returning  to  the 
Yang  or  Heaven,  the  kwei  to  the  Yin  or  Earth. 
His  body  is,  like  Heaven  and  Earth,  composed  of 
the  five  elements.  Accordingly,  Man  is  an  intrin- 
sic part  of  the  Universe,  a  microcosm,  bom  spon- 
taneously from  and  in  the  macrocosm.  His  shen 
is,  of  course,  his  principal  soul,  constituting  his 
intelligence  and  life;  his  kwei  represents  his  quali- 
ties of  the  opposite  kind. 

'  The 'book  called  Tsi  i,  II. 


14     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


This  classical  system  of  Universistic  psychology, 
beside  which  no  other  ever  arose  in  China,  defines 
the  Yang  as  a  supreme,  universal  shetiy  living, 
creating,  which  divides  itself  into  an  infinite  num- 
ber of  shen  and  deposits  them  in  the  various 
beings  of  the  world;  and  the  Yin  as  an  imiversal 
kweif  likewise  divisible  into  myriads  of  particles, 
each  of  which,  in  an  individual,  may  form  his 
other  soul.  Accordingly,  creation  is  a  continuous 
emanation  or  effusion  of  parts  of  the  Yang  and  the 
Yin,  and  destruction  of  life  is  a  re-absorption  of 
Vy  such  parts.  This  process  is  the  principal  and 
highest  manifestation  of  the  Tao.  It  is  achieved 
by  the  particles  themselves,  the  Tao  doing  its  work 
spontaneously.  Those  particles,  the  shen  and  the 
kwei,  are  innumerable.  The  Universe  is  crowded 
with  them  in  all  its  parts;  they  animate  every 
being, — everything,  even  the  things  which  are 
wont  to  be  called  dead  objects.  A  shen,  being  a 
part  of  the  Yang  or  the  beatific  half  of  the  Uni- 
verse, is  considered  to  be  in  general  a  good  spirit 
or  a  god;  and  a  kwei,  belonging  to  the  Yin,  is  as  a 
rule  a  spirit  of  evil,  a  spectre,  devil  or  demon.  As 
"\ ;  there  is  no  power  beyond  the  Tao,  there  is  no  good 
in  Nature  but  that  which  comes  from  the  shen, 


The  Tao  or  Order  of  the  Universe     15 

no  evil  but  that  which  the  kwei  cause  or  inflict. 
It  is  the  Yih  king  which  testifies  to  the  prevalence 
of  these  conceptions  in  ancient  China,  and  there- 
fore has  established  to  this  hour  their  authority  as 
holy  dogmas  of  the  highest  order. 

**The  shen  are  omnipresent;  it  is  they  which 
perform  the  unfathomable  work  of  the  Yang  and 
the  Yin.  These  two  vital  breaths  [of  the  Uni- 
verse] create  the  beings;  their  peregrinating 
hwun  (or  shen)  are  the  causes  of  the ''changes  [in 
Nature],  from  which,  accordingly,  we  may  learn 
the  actions  and  manners  of  the  kwei  and  the 
shen,''"^ 

According  to  one  of  the  classics,  the  omni- 
presence of  the  shen  and  the  kweiy  and  their 
activity  in  the  process  of  creation  and  production 
overawed  Confucius  not  less  than  it  must  have 
overawed  every  thinker  of  his  time. 

"How  bountiftd,"  exclaimed  he,  "is  the  bea- 
tific work  of  the  kwei  and  the  shen !  We  look 
for  them,  but  we  do  not  see  them;  we  listen 
for  them,  but  do  not  hear  them;  they  incor- 
» Hi-ts'ze,  I. 


1 6     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


porate  themselves  in  every  being  and  every- 
thing, without  exception.  They  cause  all  people 
under  heaven  to  fast  and  purify  themselves  and 
to  array  themselves  in  full  ceremonial  dress, 
and  then,  when  they  thus  offer  their  sacrifices, 
they,  like  an  ocean,  seem  to  be  over  their  heads 
and  to  their  left  and  right. " ' 

With  these  dogmas  before  us,  we  may  now  say 
that  the  old  groundwork  of  the  Chinese  system  of 
religion  is  an  Universistic  Animism.  The  Uni- 
verse being  in  all  its  parts  crowded  with  shen  and 
kwei  the  system  is,  moreover,  polytheistic  and 
polydemonistic.  The  gods  are  such  shen  as  ani- 
mate heaven,  the  sun  and  the  moon,  the  stars, 
wind,  rain,  clouds,  thunder,  fire,  the  earth,  seas, 
mountains,  rivers,  rocks,  stones,  animals,  plants, 
objects  of  any  kind;  in  particular  also  the  gods  are 
the  shen  of  deceased  men.  And  as  to  the  demon- 
world,  nowhere  on  the  earth  is  it  so  populous  as  in 
China.  Kwei  swarm  everyw^here.  No  place  ex- 
ists where  man  is  safe  from  them.  They  are 
especially  dangerous  during  the  night,  when  the 
power  of  the  yin  part  of  the  Universe,  to  which 

*  Chung  yung,  i6. 


The  Tao  or  Order  of  the  Universe     17 


demons  belong,  is  strongest.  They  snatch  the 
souls  out  of  living  men,  so  that  these  become  ill  or 
die.  They  strike  or  touch  men,  so  that  dangerous 
boils  or  tumours  appear  on  their  bodies.  Ghosts 
of  the  ill-buried  dead  haunt  dwelHngs  with  injuri-  ^ 
ous  effect,  and  are  not  laid  until  the  dead  are  re- 
buried  decently.  Hosts  of  demons  not  seldom  set 
whole  towns  and  countries  in  commotion,  and 
utterly  demoralise  the  people.  Armies  of  spectral 
soldiers,  on  foot  and  horse,  move  through  the  sky, 
especially  at  night,  kidnapping  children,  smiting 
people  with  disease  and  death,  even  compelling 
men  to  defend  themselves  with  noise  of  gongs 
and  drums,  with  bows,  swords  and  spears,  flam- 
ing torches,  and  fires.  They  steal  the  pigtails 
of  inoffensive  people.  .  .  .  Literature  in  China 
abounds  ^th  demon-tales — which  are  no  stories^ 
in  Chinese  eyes,  but  undeniable  facts. 

Confucius  himself  divided  the  demons  into  three 
classes,  living  respectively  in  mountains  and  for- 
ests, in  the  water,  and  in  the  groimd.  The  moun- 
tain-demons may  by  their  mere  presence  cause 
drought  and,  as  a  consequence,  the  destruction  of 
crops,  hunger,  famine — which  means  in  China  the 
death    of    thousands,    nay   millions;   they   have 


1 8     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


harassed  China  like  chronic  plagues  in  all  times 
and  ages. 

Water-demons,  most  of  which  are  souls  of 
drowned  men,  cimningly  cause  people  to  tumble 
into  the  water  or  to  sink  away  in  mud  flats;  or 
they  paralyse  swimmers.  Demons  which  inhabit 
the  groimd  are  distiirbed  by  people  who  dig  in  the 
grotmd  or  who  move  heavy  objects,  and  they  then 

\  take  revenge  by  disturbing  the  embryo  in  the 
womb  of  woman 

'  A  very  large  contingent  is  contributed  to  the 
demon  kingdom  by  animals.  China  has  its  were- 
wolves, but  especially  its  tiger-demons,  ravening 
in  the  shape  of  men.  Foxes  and  vixens  in  particu- 
lar, but  also  wolves,  dogs,  and  snakes  are  notorious 
for  insinuating  themselves  into  human  society  for 
immoral  purposes,  disguised  as  charming,  hand- 
some youths  or  female  beauties;  and  not  seldom 
they  devour  the  victims  of  their  lust,  and,  at  all 
events,  make  them  ill,  delirious,  insane.  Evil  is 
regularly  inflicted  upon  men  by  all  sorts  of  ani- 

'  mals,  even  by  birds,  fishes,  and  insects,  especially 
after  assuming  htiman  shape.  Those  endless 
changes  of  men  into  beasts  and  beasts  into  men,  in 
order  to  play  their  tricks  as  devils,  are  the  best 


The  Tao  or  Order  of  the  Universe     19 


illustrations  of  the  sway  exerted  upon  the  Chinese 
mind  by  the  system  of  Universism,  which  teaches 
the  animation  of  all  beings,  men  and  animals 
equally,  by  the  same  Yang  and  Yin  that  constitute 
the  Order  of  the  Universe.  As  a  consequence  of 
this  same  doctrine,  trees,  shrubs,  herbs,  and 
objects  are  beheved  to  send  out  their  souls,  in  ^ 
order  to  inflict  evil  on  men. 

We  thus  see  the  Chinese  people  Hving  in  a  world 
which  is  crowded  on  all  sides  with  dangerous  evil 
spirits.  That  belief  is  not  banished  to  the  domain 
of  superstition  or  nursery  tales.  It  is  a  comer- 
stone  of  China's  Universistic  religion,  held  to  be  as 
true  as  the  existence  of  the  Yin,  as  true,  indeed,  as 
the  existence  of  Tao  or  Order  of  the  World.  As 
the  demons  act  in  that  Order  as  distributers  of 
evil  (because  they  represent  the  Yin,  or  its  cold 
and  dark  half),  they  exercise  a  dominant  influence 
over  human  fate,  as  do,  in  like  manner,  the  sheriy 
the  spirits  or  gods  of  the  Yang,  who  are  the  distri- 
buters of  blessing.  But  the  Yang  is  as  high  above 
the  Yin  as  Heaven  (which  is  the  Yang)  is  above 
•the  Earth.  Heaven,  therefore,  is  the  chief  shen 
or  god,  who  rules  and  controls  all  evil  spirits  and 
their  actions.     And  so  Chinese  theology  has  this 


20     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


great  dogma,  that  no  demons  harm  man  without  the 
authorisation  of  Heaven,  or  at  least  without  its 
silent  consent.  This  dogma  is  eminently  classical, 
being  laid  down  in  the  Shu  king  and  the  Yih  king. 
We  there  read,  **It  is  Heaven's  Tao  to  give  felicity 
to  the  good,  and  to  bring  misfortune  upon  the 
bad;'  the  kwei  harm  the  arrogant;  the shen vender 
the  modest  happy.  "^ 

Belief  in  the  existence  of  the  evil  spirits  is  a 
main  inducement  to  the  worship  and  propitiation 
of  Heaven,  to  the  end  that  it  may  withhold  its 
avenging  kwei.  All  the  shen  or  gods,  being  parts 
of  the  Yang,  are  the  natural  enemies  of  the  kwei, 
because  these  are  the  constituents  of  the  Yin; 
indeed,  the  Yang  and  the  Yin  are  in  perpetual 
conflict,  manifested  by  alternation  of  day  and 
night,  summer  and  winter,  heat  and  cold.  The 
purpose  of  the  worship  and  propitiation  of  the  gods 
is  to  induce  them  to  defend  Man  against  the 
world  of  evil  spirits,  or,  by  descending  and  living 
among  men,  to  drive  those  spirits  away  by  their 
overawing  presence.  That  cult  in  fact  means 
invocation   of   happiness;  but   happiness   simply 

»  Shu  king,  the  book  called  T'ang  kao. 
'  Yih  king,  the  appendix  called  T'wan,  I. 


The  Tao  or  Order  of  the  Universe     21 


means  absence  of  misfortune  which  the  demons 
bring.     Idolatry  in  China  means  the  disarming  of   l/^ 
demons  by  means  of  the  gods. 

The  belief  in  a  world  of  devils,  which  are  of  high 
influence  upon  man,  is  in  China's  religion  even 
more  than  a  basis;  it  is  a  principal  pillar  in  the  »/ 
building  of  morality. 

The  Tao  or  Order  of  the  Universe,  which  is  the 
yearly  mutation  of  the  Yang  and  the  Yin,  is  per- 
fectly just  and  impartial  to  all  men,  producing  and 
protecting  them  all  in  the  same  manner.  Heaven, 
the  Yang  itself,  by  means  of  the  gods  rewards  the 
good,  and  by  means  of  the  demons  punishes  the 
bad,  with  perfect  justice.  There  is,  accordingly, 
in  this  world  no  fehcity  but  for  the  good. 

Already  in  the  Tso  ch'wen,  a  famous  book 
ascribed  to  a  disciple  of  Confucius,  and  therefore 
invested  with  dogmatic  authority,  we  have  clear 
illustrations  of  the  behef  in  the  infliction  of  punish- 
ments by  spirits  acting  with  the  authorisation  of 
Heaven.  That  book  also  teaches  that  spirits 
punish  or  bless  whole  kingdoms  and  peoples  for  the 
conduct  of  their  rulers,  making  a  nation  thrive  if 
its  rulers  are  virtuous,  or  making  it  decline  if  they 
are  wicked.     Accounts  of  the  distribution  of  re- 


22     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


wards  and  punishments  by  spirits  are  scattered 
throughout  the  literature  of  all  periods.  Moral- 
ists have  written  collections  of  such  accounts  for 
the  maintenance  of  public  morality ;  and  the  diver- 
sity of  such  tales  is  infinite. 

Numerous,  on  the  other  hand,  are  the  tales  of 
spirits  which,  in  return  for  favours  done  them,  re- 
ward their  benefactors.  Imperial  commanders 
have  been  victorious  through  the  help  of  hosts  of 
spectres  assisting  their  troops  in  battle.  Tales  of 
ghosts,  rewarding  those  who  bestowed  care  upon 
their  unburied  or  ill-buried  corporal  remains,  occur 
in  literature  in  strikingly  large  numbers,  tending 
to  maintain  and  to  promote  a  careftd  disposal  of 
the  dead  as  a  branch  of  social  benevolence,  and 
even  as  a  subject  of  imperial  legislation.  Especi- 
ally people  laying  sacrilegious  hands  upon  graves 
have  always  incurred  the  vengeance  of  the  spectres 
of  those  buried  therein.  The  belief  in  spirits  and 
their  punishments  prevails  throughout  all  classes 
to  this  day,  kept  alive  by  hundreds  of  tales  handed 
down  from  the  good  old  times. 

The  doctrine  that  spectres  may  at  any  moment 
interfere  with  man's  feHcity  exercises  a  mighty 
influence  for  good  upon  morals.    :It  _enforces__re- 


The  Tao  or  Order  of  the  Universe     23 


spect  for  htiman  life,  and  a  charitable  treatment  of 
the  infirm  and  the  sick.  Charity,  clemency,  and 
mildness  are  even  extended  to  animals,  for  these 
too  have  soul^  which  may  work  vengeance  or 
bring  reward,  ^he  firm  belief  in  the  retributive 
justice  of  spectres  also  deters  man  from  grievous 
and  provoking  injustice,  because  wronged  parties 
da  not  seldom  convert  themselves  into  wrathful 
ghosts  by  committing  suicide. 

Spiritual  vengeance  may  manifest  itself  in  a 
hundred  ways.  The  spectre  may  enter  the  body 
of  his  enemy  and  make  him,  in  a  fit  of  mental 
derangement,  confess  his  crime,  so  that  earthly 
justice  is  able  to  lay  its  hands  on  him ;  or  the  ghost 
takes  possession  of  his  body  to  render  him  ill  or 
mad;  or  it  causes  his  death  after  long  and  painful 
suffering,  maltreating  his  soul ;  or  it  drives  him  to 
suicide.  The  vengeance  may  come  in  the  form  of 
poverty,  sickness  or  death  upon  the  culprit's  off- 
spring; indeed,  the  most  cruel  punishment  for 
any  one  is  the  ruin  or  extermination  of  his  male 
issue,  leaving  nobody  to  support  him  in  his  old  age, 
nobody  to  protect  him  after  death  from  misery 
and  hunger  by  caring  for  his  corpse  and  his  grave 
and  by  sacrificing  to  his  soul. 


24     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


As  the  highest  ambition  of  every  Chinese  is  his 
admission  into  the  mandarin  class,  we  find  success 
at  the  worid-famed  examinations,  which  open 
access  to  official  posts,  placed  foremost  in  the  list 
of  rewards  which  may  be  bestowed  by  grateful 
spectres.  Numerous  instances  of  spectres  helping 
candidates  to  obtain  their  degrees  occur  in  the 
books  of  the  present  and  past.  On  the  other  hand, 
being  * 'plucked"  is  often  ascribed  either  to  the  fact 
that  no  grateful  spectres  interfered,  or  that  some 
rancorous  ghost  prevented  the  candidate  from 
producing  a  first-rate  essay.  There  are  always 
among  the  large  host  of  candidates  some  who, 
while  secluded  in  the  examination  cells,  become 
ill,  or  deranged  in  mind,  or  die,  or  commit  suicide 
in  consequence  of  nervous  excitement;  but  the 
Chinese  generally  ascribe  such  things  to  revenge- 
ful interference  of  spectres. 

Humanity  and  benevolence,  thus  based  on  self- 
ish fear  of  punishment  and  hope  of  reward,  may 
have  little  ethical  value  in  our  eyes;  yet  their  mere 
existence  in  a  country  where  culture  has  not  yet 
taught  man  to  cultivate  goodness  for  its  own  sake, 
may  be  greeted  as  a  blessing.  An  ethical  system 
built  up  on  Demonism,  that  is  to  say,  on  a  basis 


The  Tao  or  Order  of  the  Universe     25 


which  we  condemn  as  unsubstantial  and  hollow, 
as  mere  untruth  and  superstition  created  by  the 
darkest  ignorance — claims  the  serious  attention 
of  the  student  of  the  human  race  and  its  culture. 
Certainly  that  system  is  more  than  a  Sinological 
curiosity.  Because  of  the  twenty  or  more  centu- 
ries during  which  it  has  existed,  and  because  of  its 
imposing  background — the  religion  of  the  Universe 
— that  strange  ethical  system  is,  I  think,  an  impor- 
tant phenomenon  in  the  history  of  the  influence  of 
religion  on  civilisation.  Be  this  as  it  may,  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  Chinese  demonocracy,  in 
spite  of  the  falsity  of  its  basis,  has  up  to  this  hour 
done  admirable  service  in  East  Asia  in  tempering 
man's  bad  instincts. 

Speculation  about  the  Tao  of  the  Universe  has 
been  indulged  in  by  many  authors  in  China,  even 
as  early  as  her  classical  age.  But  these  specula- 
tions have  not  moved  much  outside  the  circle  of 
conceptions  which  I  have  sketched.  The  doctrine 
of  the  Yih  kingj  according  to  which  the  Tao  (or 
the  Yang  and  Yin)  has  evolved  from  the  T'ai  Kih, 
or  "Most  Ultimate,"  which  we  may  call  Chaos 
(see  p.  9),  has  been  obediently  received  as  dog- 


26      Development  of  Religion  in  China 


matic,  classical  truth  by  all  sages  in  all  times. 
And  as  the  Yang  and  Yin  represent  Heaven  and 
Earth,  it  is  not  strange  that  prominent  writers 
admit  the  organised  Cosmos  to  have  been  formed 
by  the  Tao  spontaneously,  and  that  the  Tao 
existed  in  Chaos  from  all  eternity.  A  few  pas- 
sages in  the  Tao  teh  king,  referring  to  this  difficult 
problem,  may  be  translated  as  follows : 

*'Use  the  Tao  (or  road  of  the  Universe)  as  a 
tao  (or  road  for  your  conduct),  for  it  is  not  a  road 
in  the  ordinary  sense  of  this  term.  Praise  its 
fame,  for  its  fame  is  not  like  any  ordinary  fame. 
Before  it  had  any  fame  (among  men),  it  existed 
at  the  beginning  of  Heaven  and  Earth;  it  has 
now  its  fame,  because  it  is  the  producing  mother 
of  all  beings  that  are.' 

I  do  not  know  whose  son  (or  product)  it  is, 
for  it  existed  even  before  Imperial  Heaven, 
studded  with  constellations.  ^ — There  was  some- 
thing chaotic,  vast  and  complete;  it  existed  be- 
fore the  existence  of  Heaven  and  Earth.  It 
was  still;  it  was  shapeless;  it  stood  alone,  and 
did  not  change;  it  circulated  ever3rwhere  and 

^§1.  »§  4. 


The  Tao  or  Order  of  the  Universe     27 


showed  no  decay.  Consider  it  as  the  creating 
mother  of  whatever  exists  under  the  sky.  Its 
name  is  unknown  to  me;  I  designate  it  by  the 
word  Tao. ' 

The  myriads  of  beings  in  the  world  depend 
on  it  for  their  birth  and  existence."^ 

In  the  writings  of  Chwang  we  read  that 

"at  the  very  first  beginning  there  was  nothing; 
in  that  nothing  there  was  the  fameless  [Tao], 
out  of  which  the  Universe  arose.  The  Universe 
thus  was,  but  it  had  no  form.  That  from  which 
beings  then  borrowed  their  existence  was  its 
power  or  virtue  [teh];  the  formless  mass  di- 
vided, and  thus  there  was,  without  any  inter- 
ruption, the  process  which  is  called  life,  and  the 
creation  of  beings  by  the  stability  (of  the  earth) 
and  the  motion  (of  heaven).  "^ 
In  the  writings  of  Kwan  we  find  the  categorical 
statement  that,  "the  Tao  produced  heaven  and 
earth.  "4 

These  three  patriarchs,  accordingly,  rose  to 
*  §  25.  =•  §  34. 

5  Book  5,  or  Chapter  12.  *  Book  14,  or  Chapter  40. 


28     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


the  conception  of  a  power  producing  but  not 
creating,  which  existed  before  heaven  and  earth. 

The  names  Lao,  Chwang  and  Kwan  are  those 
of  a  triad  whom  we  hiay  call  the  patriarchs  of 
Taoism.  Along  with  the  Classics,  it  is  their  writ- 
ings from  which  the  principles  and  the  develop- 
ment of  Universism  must  be  studied  in  the  first 
place.  The  Too  teh  king,  or  "the  Canon  of  Tao 
and  Virtue,"  or  "the  Canon  of  Taoistic  Virtue,'* 
is  well  known  outside  China,  because  it  has  been 
translated  many  times  into  European  languages; 
it  may  owe  this  honour  to  the  fact  that  the  task 
of  translating  it  correctly  is  well-nigh  hopeless. 
According  to  established  opinion,  its  author  Lao 
or  Lao-tsze  was  an  old  man  when  Confucius  lived. 
Chwang,  or  Chwang-tsze,  or  Chwang  Cheu,  lived 
in  the  second  half  of  the  fourth  century  B.C.  His 
writings  entitled  Chwang-tszey  have,  together  with 
the  Tao  teh  king,  been  Englished  by  Legge,  the 
scholarly  translator  of  the  Chinese  Classic  of  Con- 
fucianism. The  work  which  bears  the  title  of 
Kwan4sze,  more  voluminous  than  the  writings  of 
Lao  and  Chwang  together,  contains,  in  the  main, 
the  exposition  of  ethical  and  political  philosophy 


The  Tao  or  Order  of  the  Universe     29 


on  the  Universistic  principle.  The  author,  named 
Kwan-tsz^,  Kwan  Chung  or  Kwan  T-wu,  probably 
lived  in  the  seventh  century  B.C.,  so  that  the  work, 
if  composed  at  that  time,  would  actually  carry  the 
existence  of  Taoism  up  to  the  dawn  of  the  reliable 
history  of  East  Asia.  It  shows,  however,  clear 
evidence  of  large  additions  by  other  hands;  but 
even  though  it  may  have  been  written  in  a  later 
age, — as  late  in  fact  as  the  Han  dynasty, — it  is  a 
valuable  source  of  knowledge  of  ancient  Taoist 
doctrine,  and  most  valuable  as  a  commentary  and 
complement  to  the  books  of  Lao  and  Chwang. 
These  three  books  of  Lao,  Chwang,  and  Kwan 
have  exercised  a  dominating  influence  upon  the 
development  of  Taoism  as  a  separate  system  of 
religion.  It  was  they  in  particular  which  gave 
authoritative  directions  for  the  adjustment  of  man 
and  his  conduct  to  the  characteristics  and  qualities 
of  the  Tao  of  the  Universe;  and  as  those  direc- 
tions are,  moreover,  the  most  ancient  known,  they 
have  always  been  regarded  as  the  holiest,  that  is 
to  say,  as  the  foundation  stones  on  which  was 
built  up  the  ethical  and  religious  system  that  is 
called  the  Tao  of  Man.  The  writings  of  Lao, 
Chwang  and  Kwan  were  never  acknowledged  by 


30     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


Confucianism  as  its  classical  books.  The  reason 
of  this  exclusion  is  as  yet  unknown ;  for  the  present 
we  must  content  ourselves  with  the  supposition 
that  they  were  not  believed  to  have  been  produced 
by  Confucius,  nor  by  any  members  of  the  school 
inspired  by  him.  The  question  deserves  investiga- 
tion, seeing  that  this  exclusion  marks  the  bifurca- 
tion of  Taoism  and  Confucianism  from  the 
primeval  universistic  stock.  From  the  moment 
this  process  of  separation  was  accomplished,  that 
is  to  say,  from  the  Han  epoch,  the  writings  of  Lao, 
Chwang,  and  Kwan  have,  with  a  few  others  of 
less  significance,  stood  by  themselves  as  a  special 
set  of  Taoist  bibles,  though  set  fraternally  side  by 
side  with  the  bibles  of  Confucianism. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  TAO  OF  MAN 

TN  the  preceding  Chapter  I  have  demonstrated 
*  that  the  basis  of  Chinese  philosophy  and  reli- 
gion is  the  moving,  living,  creating  Universe,  or  the 
process  of  Nature,  the  Order  of  the  World,  called 
the  Tao  or  Way.  Moreover,  I  have  stated  that 
this  order  manifests  itself  by  the  revolution  of 
time,  especially  by  every  round  of  the  seasons  of 
the  year,  that  is,  by  the  vicissitudes  of  the  opera- 
tions of  the  Yang  and  the  Yin,  the  bright  and  the 
dark,  respectively  the  warm  and  the  cold  souls 
of  the  Universe.  I  have  furthermore  referred  to 
the  great  universistic  dogma  that  man  is  a  product 
of  this  dual  soul  of  the  Universe,  as  he  has  likewise 
a  dual  soul,  viz.,  a  shen,  which  is  a  particle  of  the 
Yang,  and  a  kwei,  which  is  a  particle  of  the  Yin. 
Man  accordingly  is  a  product  of  the  Order  of  the 
World;  actually  he  is  a  part  of  it.  His  creation 
and  destruction  being  effected  by  that  Order,  his 

31 


32     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


existence  is  in  every  respect  determined  by  the 
Universal  Law,  the  name  of  which  is  Tao. 

These  fundamental  dogmas  are,  to  this  day, 
the  basis  of  both  the  Confucian  and  Taoist  doc- 
trines about  the  proper  conduct  of  man.  This 
conduct  must  be  in  accordance  with  the  Tao,  or 
Order  of  the  Universe;  therefore  it  is  called  the 
Tao  of  Man.  The  Yih  king,  the  principal  bible  of 
Universism,  also  contains  a  great  dogma  from 
which  such  conformation  of  man  with  the  Tao 
borrows  all  its  importance :  the  Tao  is  the  source  of 
all  goodness  and  blessing,  the  summum  honum, 
"The  imiversal  Yin  and  the  universal  Yang  are 
the  Tao ;  that  which  proceeds  from  it  is  goodness 
(shen),  and  that  which  it  makes  is  the  human 
character."'  This  goodness,  according  to  all 
authors,  the  Tao  owes  to  the  fact  that  under  its 
influence  Heaven  and  Earth  benevolently  co- 
operate in  giving  birth  to  all  beings,  animate  and 
inanimate,  and  nourish  and  sustain  them  all  with 
Uke  benevolence;  this  goodness  constitutes  the 
supreme  quality  or  virtue  of  the  Universe,  ex- 
pressed of  old  by  the  word  teh. 

'  Hi  tszi,  I. 


The  Tao  of  Man  33 


*'The  main  virtue  of  Heaven  and  Earth,*' 
says  the  Yih  king,  *'is  creation."^ 

Heaven  and  Earth  being  roused  (by  the  Tao), 
myriads  of  beings  are  produced  by  evolution.  ^ 

Heaven  and  Earth  nourish  the  myriads  of 
beings;  the  perfect  or  holy  man,  accordingly, 
nourishes  virtue  of  higher  order,  so  that  it  may 
reach  the  myriads  of  beings.  ^ 

*'The  soul  of  Man  being  a  part  of  the  Yang 
and  the  Yin,  which  constitute  the  Tao,  it  fol- 
lows that  its  qualities,  that  is  to  say,  Man's 
character  or  instinct,  called  sing,  are  naturally 
good."  "It  is, "  says  the  Yih  king,  *'the  Celes- 
tial Tao  which,  causing  the  spontaneous  evolu- 
tion of  beings,  adjusts  for  each  one  the  natural 
endowments  which  constitute  his  sing.  ■* 

Heaven  and  Earth  being  placed  in  their  po- 
sitions, the  mutations  [of  the  Yang  and  the 
Yin]  occur  in  them;  these  mutations  make  the 
character  of  Man,  and  continuously  preserve 
and  sustain  it,  being  thus  the  gate  through 
which  righteousness,  produced  by  the  Tao,  en- 
ters into  man.  "s 

»  Hi  tsze,  II.  »  rwan,  II.  s  Twan,  I. 

4  rwan,  I.  5 Hi  tsze,  I. 


34      Development  of  Religion  in  China 


The  Yih  king  elaborates  this  doctrine  by  teach- 
ing that  the  human  character  is  a  complex  of  four 
cardinal  virtues,  respectively  emanating  from  the 
four  highest  qualities  of  Heaven.  When  we  open 
this  Classic  at  the  very  first  page,  we  observe  that 
^^ts  first  words  are:  *' Heaven  has  priority;  it  is  all- 
pervading,  beneficent  and  immutably  correct.'* 
And  in  one  of  the  Appendices,  we  read : 

^'Priority  is  the  chief  quality  of  natural  good- 
ness (shen) ;  the  man  who  is  eminently  virtuous 
is  the  embodiment  of  benevolence,  and  thereby 
becomes  the  first  and  principal  among  men. 
All-pervading  means  the  assemblage  of  excel- 
lences; the  man  who  is  highly  virtuous  is  such 
an  assemblage,  and  therefore  fit  to  assimilate 
himself  to  the  laws  and  rites  of  social  life. 
Beneficence  is  the  harmonious  union  of  all  things 
righteous;  the  man  who  has  virtue  in  an  emi- 
nent degree  benefits  living  creatures,  and  accord- 
ingly is  fit  to  unite  harmoniously  in  himself  all 
righteous  things.  And  immutable  correctness  is 
the  basis  of  all  actions;  the  man  who  is  emi- 
nently virtuous  has  immutability,  and  makes  it 
the  foundation  of  everything  he  does.     If  the 


The  Tao  of  Man  35 


man  of  eminent  virtue  cultivates  those  four 
virtues  (benevolence,  laws  and  rites  of  social 
life,  righteousness,  correctness),  he  is  first  and 
principal,  all-pervading,  beneficent,  and  immu- 
tably correct."' 

Those  four  inherent  cardinal  virtues  of  man, 
emanating  from  the  cardinal  virtues  or  qualities  of 
Heaven,  are  known  among  the  Chinese  as  shang, 
or  "constant  virtues,"  eternal  and  immutable  as 
Heaven  or  the  Universe  itself.  The  fourth,  immu- 
table correctness,  is  generally  identified  with 
knowledge  or  wisdom,  the  sure  guide  towards  cor- 
rectness. The  four  virtues  constitute  the  Tao  of 
Man.  They  always  have  been,  and  still  are,  the  sum 
and  substance  of  morality,  the  main  pillar  of  the 
classical  Confucian  system  of  ethics,  side  by  side ' 
with  the  dogma  that  the  heaven-bestowed  character' 
of  man,  which  they  constitute,  is  naturally  and  in- 
herently good  (shen).  True,  there  have  lived,  in* 
the  classical  time,  thinkers  who  disputed  the  natural' 
goodness  of  man,  maintaining  that  his  character 
is  a  mixture  of  good  and  evil,  either  of  which  may 
preponderate  according  to  the  way  or  discipline 

»  Wen  yen,  I. 


36     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


by  which  he  has  been  brought  up  or  educated. 
There  are  even  writings  of  a  sage'  who  asserted 
that  man*s  innate  character  is  depraved,  and 
that  the  good  in  him  is  merely  factitious.  But  all 
these  opinions  have  been  silenced  forever,  and 
relegated  to  the  domain  of  false  doctrine,  first  by 
Mencius,  the  grand  master  of  the  Confucian 
school,  whose  writings  have  always  held  a  place 
among  the  Classics;  as  also  by  Khung  Kih,  or 
TszS-szS,  a  grandson  of  Confucius,  the  reputed 
author  of  the  Chung  yung,  which  likewise  is  a 
classic  or  bible  of  Confucianism.  This  book  opens 
with  these  remarkable  words:  **What  heaven  has 
bestowed  is  the  character  (sing);  following  the 
character  is  the  Tao  [of  man],  and  the  cultivation 
of  this  Tao  is  synonymous  with  instruction." 
Thus  was  the  discipline  of  adaptation  to  the  Uni- 
verse made  by  one  of  the  chief  masters  of  the 
Confucian  school  the  substratum  of  ethical  educa- 
tion in  the  Confucian  system. 

The  principal  of  the  four  cardinal  virtues  is, 
according  to  all  Chinese  sages,  observance  of  the 
laws  of  social  life,  which  are  called  It;  that  is,  all 
the  good  rules  of  human  conduct,  rescripts  and 

*  Siun  Hwang  or  Siun-tszg,  who  lived  not  long  after  Mencius. 


The  Tao  of  Man  37 


customs  of  family  life,  society  and  government, 
besides  rites  and  religion^ — in  short,  about  the 
whole  Tao  of  Man.  They  were,  indeed,  categori- 
cally declared  by  Confucius  and  his  early  school 
to  constitute  the  means  by  which  Man  conforms 
himself  to  the  Tao  of  Heaven,  which  conformity 
is  necessary  in  order  that  one  may  live;  besides, 
the  great  sage  has  taught  that  they  take  their 
origin  directly  from  the  Universe  and  Heaven: 
that  is  to  say,  they  are  perfectly  natural.  Accord- 
ingly, no  state  or  dynasty,  nor  even  family  can 
exist  without  them.  This  dogma  implies  that 
there  must  be  a  Confucian  State  Religion,  exer- 
cised and  maintained  by  the  reigning  dynasty, 
and  that  this  reHgion  must  be  based  on  the  Tao. 
Of  course  the  dogma  is  eminently  classical;  we 
find  it  in  one  of  the  books  of  the  Li  ki  in  the 
following  terms: 

"Yes,  it  was  by  means  of  the  li  that  the 
ancient  rulers  received  and  handed  down  the 
Tao  of  Heaven,  in  order  to  regulate  the  passions 
of  men.  Therefore  he  who  does  not  observe 
the  li  must  die,  and  he  who  possesses  them  shall 
live " ;  for  it  is  said  in  the  Shi  king :  "Look at  the 


38     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


rat;  it  has  its  limbs,  but  there  are  men  who  have 
no  li;  a  man  without  a  li  will  he  not  quickly  die 
(as  a  rat  without  limbs)?  This  is  so  because 
the  li  have  their  root  in  heaven,  their  divisions 
on  the  earth,  their  branches  even  among  the 
spectres  and  gods;  they  extend  accordingly  to 
the  worship  of  the  dead  and  sacrifices  of  any 
kind,  also  to  archery  and  chariot-driving,  to 
capping  (young  men)  and  marriage,  to  audiences 
and  missions.  It  is  because  the  perfect  man 
promulgated  the  li  that  the  ruling  dynasties 
in  the  world  under  heaven  got  them  to  rule  the 
world  by  means  of  them.'** 

"The  li  then  positively  have  their  origin  in 
the  Great  Universum,  which,  dividing  itself, 
became  Heaven  and  Earth,  and,  revolving,  is 
the  Yin  and  the  Yang,  which  by  their  mutations 
produce  the  four  seasons,  and  by  their  division 
form  demons  and  gods.  That  which  it  sends 
down  is  Fate,  the  administration  of  which  is  in 
Heaven.  Therefore  the  meaning  of  the  term 
li  is  'chief  principle  of  Man.'  It  is  through 
the  li  that  Man  speaks  the  truth  and  cultivates 
*  Li  yun,  I. 


» t 


The  Tao  of  Man  39 


concord;  they  are,  accordingly,  the  material 
which  unites  his  skin  to  his  flesh,  his  muscles 
to  his  bones.  They  are  the  chief  principle 
because  of  which  the  living  are  nourished,  the 
dead  properiy  buried,  and  the  spirits  and  gods 
worshipped;  they  are  the  great  channel  by 
means  of  which  we  comprehend  the  Tao  of 
Heaven  and  act  in  compliance  with  the  nature 
(sing)  of  our  fellow-men.  It  is  on  this  account 
that  the  saints  (rulers)  conceived  that  their 
knowledge  of  the  It  should  never  be  exhausted, 
for  whenever  a  state  had  gone  to  ruin,  a  dynasty 
to  downfall,  a  people  to  destruction,  the  fact 
was  that  the  rulers  had  previously  abandoned 
the  IV 

The  Tao  of  the  Universe,  creating  the  Tao  or 
conduct  of  man,  thus  virtually,  according  to  Con- 
fucius and  his  school,  pervades  human  life  in  all 
its  parts.  We  may  say  that  the  human  Tao 
embraces  the  performance  of  the  duties  imposed 
by  the  conditions  of  life,  in  which  the  Tao  of  the 
Universe,  creating  man  and  allowing  him  to  grow 
and  live  under  its  almighty  sway,  naturally  places 

*  Li  yun,  IV. 


40     Development  of  Religion  in  China  ^ 

him.  We  may  also  say  that  the  human  Tao, 
represented  by  the  cardinal  virtues,  is  the  "path" 
in  which  the  macrocosm  makes  the  microcosm 
walk,  the  path  of  human  morality  in  general.  The 
word  Tao,  accordingly,  means  correct  behaviour, 
the  proper  rules  of  life  and  religion,  good  princi- 
ples ;  it  is  used  throughout  the  Classics  in  all  these 
meanings.  To  this  day  Tao  has  remained  the 
standard  term  for  all  superior  qualities  in  man. 
The  Confucian  Classics  have  been,  since  the  Han 
dynasty,  the  fundamental  books  for  ethical  educa- 
tion and  political  wisdom.  This  fact  stamps  them 
as  Taoist  books. 

Indeed,  they  have  ever  been  treated  by  the 
government  and  the  most  learned  men  of  the  nation 
as  the  sole  guides  for  the  Tao  of  Man.  It  is  they 
that  teach  the  Chinese  people  the  opinions,  princi- 
ples, actions,  and  politics  of  its  first,  and  therefore 
holiest,  ancestors,  the  "perfect  or  holy  men, "  who, 
better  than  any  creature,  knew  what  that  Tao  is, 
because  they  lived  during  its  establishment  among 
mankind,  and  even  took  an  active  part  therein. 
The  rules  of  logic  therefore  dictate  a  slavish  adher- 
ence to  these  books  as  bibles  for  individual,  domes- 
tic, religious,  social  and  political  life.     The  princi- 


The  Tao  of  Man  41 


pies  promulgated  by  these  books  constitute,  as  we 
know,  Confucianism.     This  is  therefore  canonical, 
orthodox,  for,  since  there  is  only  one  Tao  or  Order 
of  the  World,  and  one  set  of  bibles  or  Classics  pro- 
mulgating and   maintaining   that   Order  among 
men,  all  other  religion  and  morality  must  naturally 
be  inconsistent  with  the  Universe  itself,  and  there- 
fore dangerous  for  the  government  and  the  human 
race.     Wisdom  and  policy  thus  absolutely  forbid 
the  existence  of  any  other  religious  and  ethical 
doctrine,  except  Taoistic  Confucianism  or  Con- 
fucian Taoism.     The  Tao  alone  represents  all  that 
is  true  and  orthodox.     It  embraces  all  correct  and 
righteous  dealings ;  it  is  even  the  creator  of  all  these 
good  things,  as  it  is,  in  fact,  the  creator  of  all  things 
whatever.     This   Tao,    the   motion   and   motive 
power  of  the  Universe,  has  no  superior,  and  even 
no  equal.     Hence  there  is  no  room  for  any  second 
set  of  moral,  religious  or  political  rules.     And  if 
by  any  chance  any  such  rules,  not  founded  on  the 
Classics,  should  arise,  they  must  be  false,  and 
productive  of  evil  of  every  sort;  and  every  true, 
right-minded  Confucian  statesman  is  under  the 
strictest   obligation   to   destroy   them,   root  and 
branch,  wherever  they  exist  or  crop  up.     He  has 


42      Development  of  Religion  in  China 


to  destroy  them  in  the  bud,  before  they  can  pro- 
duce confusion  within  the  li,  the  rules  for  private, 
domestic,  religious,  and  social  life,  the  only  classical 
ethics  which  keep  man,  in  thought,  word,  and 
deed,  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  Order  of  the 
Universe. 

These  doctrines  and  dogmas  afford  a  complete 
explanation  of  the  fact  that  the  Classics  are  the 
only  books  which  have  always  found  supreme 
favour  among  sages,  statesmen,  and  scholars.  They 
explain  why  the  Classics  are  held  to  be  the  basis 
of  all  civilisation  and  learning,  why  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  their  teachings  always  was  the  chief, 
nay  the  only  thing  required  in  the  world-famed 
examinations  which  open  the  door  to  official  pre- 
ferment. It  is  now  clear  why  the  word  *' scholar" 
and  "statesman"  are  S3monymous  with  "Qonfu- 
cianist."  All  writings  outside  the  scope  of  the 
Classics  either  are  neutral,  and  therefore  beneath 
the  notice  of  scholars  and  statesmen,  good  only 
for  certain  second-rate  and  third-rate  minds  bent 
on  idle  occupations;  or  else  they  breathe  another 
spirit,  necessarily  heterodox,  heretical,  morally 
corrupting,  and  dangerous  to  society  and  state. 

Dogmatism  is  always  and  everywhere  in  this 


The  Tao  of  Man  43 


world  the  mother  of  intolerance  and  persecu- 
tion. Could  it  be  otherwise  in  China?  Certainly 
not.  There  we  find  indeed  the  school  of  Confucius, 
in  close  alliance  with  the  State,  which  has  entirely 
assimilated  itself  with  it,  imbued  with  a  fanatical 
animosity  against  everything  religious  and  ethical 
which  cannot  be  covered  by  the  idea  Classicism, 
and  against  all  teachings  not  built  upon  the  founda- 
tion of  these  holy  writings.  Crusades  against  false 
doctrines  are  preached  by  the  Shu  king,  one  of  the 
holiest  among  the  Classics,  in  a  chapter  assumed  to 
have  been  written  in  the  23d  century  before  our 
era.  Confucius  himself  declared  cultivation  of 
heresy  to  be  injurious.  And  Mencius,  whose 
writings  too,  are  classical,  laid  upon  the  shoulders 
of  all  future  ages  the  duty  of  persecuting  heresy.'v 
He  categorically  defines  heresy  as  everything 
which  departs  from  the  teachings  of  Confucius  and 
the  sages  of  a  still  greater  antiquity.  The  literati, 
including  the  mandarins  (who  are  recruited  from 
their  midst  by  means  of  the  state  examinations), 
have  always  been  persecutors  of  false  doctrine; 
indeed,  it  is  they  who  uphold  the  government 
that  is  based  upon  the  only  true  Confucian  doc- 
trine.    The  common  people,  deprived  of  school- 


44     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


ing,  are  free  from  fanatical  Confucianism.  They 
have  the  privilege  of  supplying  victims  and  mar- 
tyrs for  the  blood-drenched  altar  of  intolerant 
officialism. 

Such  are  the  reasons  why  the  Chinese  State 
would  naturally  persecute  Christianity  and  Islam, 
and  also  Buddhism  and  the  numerous  religious 
communities  or  sects  which  this  religion  has  called 
into  existence  among  the  people.  Their  obstinate 
propagandism,  religious  practices,  and  pious  meet- 
ings were  frequently  punished  with  the  strangling 
rope,  flogging,  and  exile.  Under  the  recently  de- 
posed dynasty  persecution  was  very  severe.  Imper- 
ial resolutions  and  decrees  relating  to  persecution 
of  sects  may  be  counted  by  hundreds.  Many  up- 
risings of  sects,  smothered  in  streams  of  blood,  are 
declared  by  imperial  decrees  and  resolutions  to 
have  been  preceded  by  bloody  persecutions  tmder 
full  imperial  approval. ' 

We  now  perfectly  understand  that,  since  it  is  the 
Tao  which  produces  virtue  {teh)  and  goodness 
{shen)  in  the  widest  sense,  the  expression  **posses- 

*  For  fuller  information  on  this  subject  I  refer  to  my  Sectarian' 
ism  and  Religious  Persecution  in  China. 


The  Tao  of  Man  45 


sion  of  the  Tao"  denotes  perfection  and  excellence, 
the  height  of  virtue  and,  consequently,  the  height 
of  felicity,  as  also  assimilation  with  the  Tao  of  the 
Universe,  or  Heaven.  In  the  Tao  teh  king  we 
read: 

**The  Tao  of  Heaven  has  no  favourites,  but 
always  accompanies  the  man  who  has  natural 
goodness  (shen^). 

When  the  Tao  is  lost,  laws  and  rites  of  social 
life  (It)  are  lost,  and  loss  of  the  latter  means  the 
attenuation  of  loyalty  and  trustworthiness,  and 
is  therefore  the  cause  of  anarchy  and  disorder. "  =* 

Accordingly,  the  man  who  has  gained  the  Tao 
is  the  perfect  man.  We  know  that  the  operations 
of  the  Tao  of  the  Universe  are  those  of  the  shen  or 
gods,  which  are  the  parts  of  the  Yang  or  celestial 
half  of  the  Universe;  it  is  then  a  logical  conclusion 
that  the  man  who  has  the  Tao  actually  is  such  a 
god,  and  that  the  Tao  is  called  Shen  Tao,  "the  Tao 
of  the  gods, "  or  *' Tao  of  divinity. "  We  all  know 
this  word  in  its  Japanese  form  Shinto;  indeed 
Taoism  has  existed  from  an  early  date  in  the  Land 

'  §  79.  =»  §  35- 


46     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


of  the  Rising  Sun.  Shen  Tao  is  a  classical  term, 
occuring  in  the  Yih  king.  There  we  read  this 
significant  passage  • 

''The  perfect  or  holy  men  observing  the  Shen 
Tao  of  Heaven,  by  which  the  four  seasons  pro- 
ceed without  any  irregularity,  based  their  in- 
struction upon  that  Shen  Tao,  with  the  result 
that  all  under  heaven  submitted  to  their  rule. "  ^ 

This  classical  passage  has  influenced  the  system  of 
government  for  all  ages.  It  assured  rulers  that 
they  would  secure  thorough  obedience  and  peace 
in  their  states,  if  they  faithfully  educated  their 
people  in  the  Tao  of  the  gods.  They  have  done  so 
by  means  of  the  Classics,  with  the  fervent  respect 
for  the  rescripts  of  the  holy  ancients  which  has 
always  characterised  them. 

Possession  of  the  human  Tao  thus  leads  Man 
to  the  highest  ideal  state  of  felicity  and  power, 
which  is  nothing  less  than  holiness  or  divinity. 
We  find  this  theory  preached  with  the  greatest 
emphasis  in  the  Classics,  and  in  the  writings  of 
Lao-tsze  and  Chwang-tsz^,  and  it  is,  accordingly, 

»  Twan,  I. 


The  Tao  of  Man  47 


one  of  the  chief  doctrines  that  Confucianism  and 
Taoism  have  in  common. '  The  excellence  of  the 
man  who  assimilates  his  life  and  conduct  with  the 
Tao  is  preached  by  the  Yih  king  in  the  following 
expressive  terms : 

"Yes,  the  great  man  is  he  who  assimilates  his 
virtues  with  those  of  Heaven  and  Earth,  his 
intellect  with  the  sun  and  moon,  his  niles  of 
conduct  with  the  four  seasons,  his  fortunes  and 
misfortunes  with  the  kwei  and  the  shen.  He 
behaves  in  advance  of  Heaven  {i.  e.,  he  conforms 
to  it  by  timely  initiative),  and  consequently 
Heaven  does  not  go  against  him;  he  follows 
Heaven  and  thus  reverently  adapts  his  conduct 
to  the  four  seasons,  and  so  Heaven  again  does 
not  go  against  him;  how  much  less  will  men  go 
against  him,  and  how  much  less  will  the  kwei 
and  the  shen  do  so !'  *  * 

Confucius  himself,  according  to  Chwang-tsz^,  ^ 
said  explicitly  to  his  disciples,  that  the  perfect  or 
holy  man  naturally  is  a  Taoist : 

«  See  the  next  Chapter.  *  Wen  yen. 

i  Book  10,  or  Chapter  31. 


48      Development  of  Religion  in  China 


"From  the  Tao  it  is  that  the  myriads  of 
beings  are  bom.  Beings  who  fail  to  obtain  it 
incur  death,  but  those  who  do  obtain  it  live  and 
exist.  Those  who  in  their  business  of  life  sin 
against  it  are  ruined,  but  those  who  conform  to 
it  become  perfect.  Therefore  the  holy  man 
attaches  the  highest  importance  to  the  Tao 
wherever  it  is. " 

Among  the  means  which  the  ancient  sages  of 
Universism  regarded  as  effective  in  bringing  about 
man*s  conformity  with  the  Tao  and,  accordingly, 
his  divine  perfection,  imitation  of  the  Tao,  its 
qualities  or  virtues,  stood  foremost.  In  fact, 
behaving  as  the  Universe  behaves  is  adaptation 
to  the  Universe,  and  as  the  Universe  is  supremely 
good,  imitation  of  it  is  virtue. 

The  Yih  king  contains  on  this  head  many  hints. 

*' Heaven  in  its  motion  displays  firmness; 
therefore  the  man  who  is  highly  virtuous  never 
ceases  to  render  himself  powerful. ' 

If  he  keeps  his  head  aloft  above  all  beings, 
the  myriads  of  states  altogether  enjoy  repose."^ 

»  The  Appendix  called  Siang,  I.  ^  Twan,  I. 


The  Tao  of  Man  49 


This  means  that  the  sovereign,  as  he  represents 
Heaven,  whose  son  he  is,  ought,  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  his  authority  and  dignity,  to  be  majestic 
and  awe-inspiring  like  Heaven;  then  he  will  keep 
his  states  as  quiet  and  peaceful  as,  by  its  para- 
mount power,  Heaven  maintains  the  stability  of 
the  Earth. 

The  creative  power  of  the  Universe  is  the  annual 
process  of  production  which  is  brought  about  by 
the  Yang  and  the  Yin  or  the  Tao;  this  power 
brings  forth  everything  for  everybody  indiscrimin- 
ately, and  thus  works  with  perfect  impartiality. 
Impartiality  (kung)  in  administering  government 
is  therefore  the  natural  duty  of  rulers.  Partiality 
{puh  kung  tao)  on  their  part  is  a  violation  of  the 
Universal  Law ;  it  disturbs  the  Tao  and  therefore 
must  inevitably  create  disorder  in  their  states. 

^'Heaven,*'  wrote  Kwan-tsze,  "is  impartial  and 
just,  and  without  any  selfishness;  therefore  its 
protection  covers  both  the  beautiful  and  the 
ugly.  And  the  Earth  is  impartial  and  equitable, 
and  without  selfishness;  and  therefore  the  great 
and  the  small  alike  are  borne  by  it. ' 

*  Book  20,  or  Chapter  64. 
4 


50     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


The  perfect  man  is  like  Heaven,  which  covers 
everything  without  partiality;  he  is  like  the 
Earth,  which  bears  everything  without  par- 
tiality. The  partial  man  brings  confusion  and 
anarchy  into  the  world  under  heaven. ' 

A  ruler  who  possesses  Tao,  enacts  laws  with 
natural  goodness  {shen)  and  wisdom,  and  with- 
out partiality;  but  a  ruler  who  has  no  Tao,  after 
enacting  laws  throws  them  aside  and  acts  with 
partiality.  If  he  who  is  the  highest  of  men  thus 
nullifies  his  own  laws  and  reigns  with  partiality, 
then  those  who  are  his  ministers  will  perform 
acts  of  partiality  as  if  it  were  impartiality.  * 

When  the  Tao  of  Heaven  is  followed,  and 
thus  impartiality  is  displayed,  then  even  those 
who  live  far  away  from  one  another  are  naturally 
bound  together  by  bonds  of  love.  But  when  the 
Tao  of  Heaven  is  abandoned  and  deeds  of  par- 
tiality are  committed,  then  even  sons  will  hate 
their  mothers,  and  mothers  their  sons.  ^ 

"In  order  that  a  stream  of  virtue  [teh\ 
(emanating  from  the  perfect  ruler),  moistening 
and  fructifying,  may  pour  down  upon  the  myri- 

»  Book  13,  or  Chapter  37.  »  Book  10,  or  Chapter  30. 

5  Book  20,  or  Chapter  64. 


The  Tao  of  Man  51 


ads  of  beings  equally,  I  enjoin  that  the  perfect 
man  shall  assimilate  himself  with  Heaven  and 
with  Earth."' 

^  The  demand  on  rulers  of  mankind  to  be  thor- 
oughly impartial  and  just,  like  nature  itself, 
implies,  of  course,  that  they  should  be  impartial 
in  respect  to  themselves  also,  that  is  to  say, 
without  self-love  and  selfishness.  Unselfishness 
is,  in  fact,  a  capital  quahty  or  virtue  of  the 
Universe. 

"Heaven  is  perpetual,"  wrote  Lao-tsz^,  "and 
Earth  is  permanent.  The  reason  why  Heaven 
is  perpetual  and  Earth  permanent,  is  that  they 
do  not  exist  for  themselves.  Therefore  the  per- 
fect man  puts  his  own  person  last,  and  yet  it 
obtains  the  foremost  place ;  he  treats  his  person 
as  if  it  were  foreign  to  him,  and  yet  his  person  is 
preserved.  Is  it  not  by  his  unselfishness  that 
his  own  interests  are  best  cared  for?"^ 

The  Order  of  the  Universe  is  perfectly  orderly. 
What  is  the  reason   of   it?    The   parts   of   the 
I  Book  4,  or  Chapter  1 1.  »  Tao  ieh  king,  §  7. 


52     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


Universe  do  not  collide.  And  why  do  they  not 
collide?  Because  they  move  and  operate  with 
mutual  shuriy  "  Compliance. "  Compliance,  accord- 
ingly, is  a  cardinal  duty  of  rulers,  the  practice  of 
which  enables  them  to  keep  their  states  and  peoples 
in  an  orderly  condition.  This  is  a  political  dogma, 
on  which  peculiar  stress  is  laid  by  Confucian 
Classics  and  other  Taoist  books. 

"Heaven  and  Earth,"  says  the  Yih  king, 
"move  with  display  of  compliance,  and  hence 
the  sun  and  the  moon  make  no  errors  (in  their 
course),  nor  do  the  four  seasons  deviate  (from 
their  order).  If  a  perfect  man  likewise  lets 
his  movements  be  ruled  by  compliance,  the 
punishments  which  he  inflicts  are  purely  correct 
(not  erroneous),  and,  accordingly,  the  people 
submit  to  him.' — Is  not  compliance  the  Tao 
of  the  Earth?  This  Tao  complies  with  heaven, 
and  its  conduct  is  in  accordance  with  the 
seasons."* 

Evidently  this  doctrine  implies  that  rulers  should 
foster  good  rule  by  complying  to  a  great  extent 

*  T  'wan,  I.  '  Wen  yen- 


The  Tao  of  Man  53 


with  public  will  and  opinion.  It  forbids  stupid 
tyranny,  and  may  explain  why  the  first  emperor 
of  the  present  dynasty  at  the  conquest  of  the 
empire  styled  his  reign  Shun  chi,  "Government 
through  Compliance."  The  principle  might  be 
appealed  to  by  those  who  demand  reform  on  the 
basis  of  constitutionalism. 

In  the  writings  of  Kwan-tsz^  it  is  stated  with 
the  greatest  assurance  that  the  holy,  perfect  sov- 
ereigns of  China's  most  ancient  time  had  ruled 
with  scrupulous  observance  of  that  great  law  of 
Compliance. 

"When  those  foreign  rulers  were  living  in 
the  world  under  heaven,  the  people  took 
shelter  under  their  divine  virtue,  and  thus 
they  used  that  virtue  to  govern  the  people 
properly.  Yet  if  they  had  taken  advice 
from  others  apart  from  the  people,  they  would 
have  taken  unwise  measures;  but  they  took 
advice  from  others  in  union  with  the  people, 
and — their  measures  were  perfect.  They  had 
the  virtues  and  quaHties  of  T*ang  and  Wu, 
and  nevertheless  had  regard  to  what  was  said 
by  the  people  in  the  markets.     Since  in  this 


54     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


way  those  wise  rulers  acted  in  compliance 
with  the  will  of -men,  and,  suppressing  their 
own  passions  and  instincts,  acted  in  accord- 
ance with  what  -public  will  agreed  upon,  they 
were  capable  of  being  one  body  with  the 
people;  and  being  one  with  it,  they  kept  the 
realm  by  means  of  the  realm  itself,  and  the 
people  by  means  of  the  people  itself.  Thus 
it  was  that  their  people  was  never  ready  to  do 
anything  which  was  wrong. " ' 

And  Lao-tsze  wrote:  "The  penect  ruler  has  no 
/  invariable  will  of  his  own,  but  makes  the  will  of 
I   his  people  his  own  will.  "* 

The  duty  of  every  ruler  to  bless  his  subjects 
with  a  government  conducted  in  compliance  with 
their  will  and  wishes,  is  emphasised  by  the  asser- 
tion in  the  Li  yun  that  it  produces  for  all  classes 
of  society  an  ideal  state  of  harmony  and  concord, 
safety  and  happiness.  It  causes,  according  to  this 
\  Confucian  Classic,  the  living  to  be  properly 
^  nourished,  the  dead  to  be  well  buried,  and  the 
spirits  and  gods  to  be  duly  worshipped.  The 
holy  rulers  of  ancient  times  practised  compliance 

'Book  ID,  or  Chapter  30.  *Taotehking,\  ^^. 


The  Tao  of  Man  55 


with  highly  wonderful  results.  They  did  not 
order  mountaineers  to  live  in  valleys,  nor  islanders 
to  settle  on  the  mainland ;  and  thus  they  caused  no 
hardships.  In  employing  the  people,  they  were 
sure  to  be  so  compliant  that  the  people  did  not 
suffer  from  any  calamities,  such  as  famine,  drought, 
inundation,  plague;  for  heaven  did  not  withhold 
its  Tao  from  them,  and  accordingly  earth  did  not 
withhold  its  treasures,  so  that  there  always  was 
sufficient  fertilising  dew  and  water. 

The  doctrine  of  Compliance,  enjoying  this  high 
classical  authority,  has  always  had  a  place  in  the 
Tao  of  China's  potentates,  that  is  to  say,  in  their 
system  of  politics.  It  is,  indeed,  a  noteworthy 
feature  of  the  government  of  China  that  the  people 
are  generally  allowed  great  liberty  in  the  manage- 
ment of  their  own  social  affairs,  as  long  as  it  can 
be  reasonably  tolerated  or  connived  at.  It  is  a 
JmsseZ' faire  system,  preventing  much  discontent 
and  collision  and  the  disastrous  consequences  which 
collisions  might  bring  down  upon  both  parties.  It  > 
is  a  system  of  promulgation  of  imperial  orders  and 
decrees,  without  insistence  on  absolute  obedience. 
Such  things  appear  strange  in  an  autocratic  coun-  ' 
try  like  China,  yet  Confucian  Taoism  explains  them 


56      Development  of  Religion  in  China 


well.  Compliance  may,  of  course,  mean  such 
virtues  as  forbearance,  tolerance,  indulgence, 
mildness,  even  unselfishness  and  abnegation. 

It  is  co-ordinate  with  humility  and  with  dis- 
interestedness or  self-effacement,  on  which  virtues 
great  stress  is  laid  by  the  ancient  sages  of  the 
Taoist  system,  because  they  are  displayed  by  the 
Universe.     They  call  them  chung,  or  hu,  emptiness. 

"The  Universal  Tao, "  wrote  Lao-tsz^, 
*'is  all-pervading.  The  myriads  of  beings 
depend  on  it  for  their  birth  and  existence,  and 
it  does  not  refuse  them  anything;  and  yet, 
when  it  has  made  and  accomplished  them,  it 
does  not  call  itself  their  owner.  It  loves  and 
feeds  all  beings,  and  yet  makes  no  assumption 
of  being  their  lord  and  owner.  It  ever  was 
without  desires,  and  yet  its  name  must  be 
mentioned  even  in  the  smallest  things.  All 
beings  have  recourse  to  it,  and  yet  it  does  not 
behave  as  their  master  and  owner.  Praise 
its  greatness.  Hence  it  is  that  the  perfect 
man  never  makes  himself  great,  and  in  this 
wise  can  accomplish  his  greatness.' 
»  Tao  teh  king,  §  34. 


The  Tao  of  Man  57 


"The  Tao  produces  all  things,  and  nourishes 
them;  it  endows  them  with  life,  and  yet  it 
does  not  treat  them  as  its  property;  it  makes 
them,  and  does  not  lay  claim  to  them;  it  is 
superior  to  them  all,  and  yet  does  not  exer- 
cise supremacy  over  them.  This  is  its  mystic 
virtue.  The  beings  are  produced  by  it,  and 
not  treated  by  it  as  its  property ;  it  makes  them, 
and  does  not  lay  claim  to  them.  So  when  you 
have  made  or  accomplished  something,  do 
not  take  it  to  yourself ;  yea,  do  not  do  so,  and 
it  will  never  go  away  from  you.  ^ 

**The  Tao  is  empty,  and  so  is  the  practice 
of  it;  we  must  not  be  full  of  ourselves.* — 
When  you  have  accomplished  something  and 
thereby  gained  fame,  then  let  your  own  self 
retire  into  the  background,  for  this  is  the 
Tao  of  heaven.  "3 

Indeed,  such  conduct  is  mere  imitation  of  heaven's 
conduct,  since  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  after 
shining,  set;  the  moon,  after  its  fulness,  wanes; 
the  temperature  of  the  summer  retires  when  it 
has  brought  the  vegetable  kingdom  to  maturity. 
^  Op.  cit.,  §  10  and  §  2.  '  Op.  ciL,  §  4.  3  Op.  cit.,  §  9. 


58     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


*'The  man  of  the  highest  natural  goodness," 
said  Lao-tsze,  "is  like  water,  the  natural 
goodness  of  which  consists  in  its  benefiting 
all  things,  but  occupying  without  contest  a 
[low]  place,  which  all  men  dislike.  Hence 
its  ways  are  like  that  of  Tao.' 

That  whereby  the  rivers  and  the  seas  are  able 
to  be  as  kings  of  the  valley-streams  [receiving 
the  tribute  of  them  all],  is  their  skill  in  being 
lower  than  these.  Hence  the  holy  man,  wishing 
to  be  above  the  people,  keeps  himself  with  his 
orders  below  them,  and  wishing  to  be  before 
them,  places  his  person  behind  them.  Thus, 
though  the  holy  man  has  his  place  above,  the 
people  do  not  feel  his  weight,  nor,'  though  he 
has  his  place  before  them,  do  they  feel  it 
injurious  to  them.  Therefore  all  in  the  world 
under  heaven  delight  to  exalt  him,  and  are 
not  weary  of  him.  Because  he  does  not 
strive,  the  whole  world  finds  it  impossible  to 
strive  with  him.*'' 

The  Yih  king  enhances  the  importance  of  these 
ethical  doctrines  by  emj^hatically^jpreaching  pun- 

'  Op.  ciL,  §  a.  » Op.  cit.,  §  66. 


The  Tao  of  Man  59 


ishment^tliR  arrogant,  and  reward_i2f_tlie-luim- 
ble  by^  the,  Tao  of_H£aYea-^an4-Ear4bi  and  by 
the  gods  and  devils  which  are  the  agents  of  the 
Tao.  The  Tao  of  Heaven  decreases  the  feHcity 
of  the  arrogant  and  increases  that  of  the  humble. 
The  Tao  of  the  Earth  changes  the  good  condition 
of  the  arrogant  and  floods  the  humble  (with 
blessings).  The  devils  harm  the  arrogant,  and 
the  gods  give  happiness  to  the  humble.  And  the 
Tao  of  Man  hates  the  arrogant  and  loves  the 
modest. '  And,  according  to  the  Shu  king,  it  was 
solemnly  declared,  as  early  as  twenty- three  cen- 
turies before  the  Christian  era,  by  the  holy  states- 
man Yih,  in  the  face  of  his  Imperial  lord,  Yu  the 
Great,  that  the  arrogant  call  injury  down  upon 
themselves,  and  the  modest  receive  increase  of 
felicity — this  being  the  Tao  of  heaven.  ^ 

Compliance  and  self-effacement  being  the  source 
of  so  many  blessings,  Lao-tsze  devoted  many  words 
to  it  in  his  Tao  teh  king, 

"He  who  stoops  will  maintain  himself 
complete;  he  who  bends  will  keep  himself 
straight.    .    .    .     The  reason  why  the  perfect 

^  T  'wan,  I.  '  The  book  Ta  Yii  mu. 


6o     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


man  holds  in  his  embrace  the  Universe  itself, 
and  so  is  the  model  of  all  that  lives  under  the 
sky,  is  that  he  is  free  from  self-display,  and  there- 
fore shines  bright;  free  from  a  selfish-existence, 
and  therefore  is  glorious;  free  from  struggling 
for  the  sake  of  himself,  and  therefore  performs 
meritorious  works ;  free  from  self-sympathy,  and 
therefore  has  superiority.  As  he  does  not  in- 
dulge in  struggle  with  others,  no  one  in  the  world 
struggles  with  him.  * 

"Should  all  the  world  say  that  we  are  great, 
we  should  yet  behave  as  if  we  were  not  so  great 
or  so  good  as  others.  It  is  just  greatness  which 
should  make  us  behave  as  though  not  so  good 
as  others.  .  .  .  Yes,  we  possess  three  precious 
things;  hold  them,  and  appreciate  them.  The 
first  is  love  for  others,  the  second  frugality,  the 
third  is  shrinking  from  standing  foremost  in 
the  world.  .  .  .  With  this  third  quality  we  can 
become  chiefs  seated  on  thrones.  Nowadays 
we  give  up  the  hindmost  place  and  try  only  to 
be  foremost — yet  the  end  is  death!"* 

Self-effacement,  disinterestedness,  unselfishness, 

Tao  teh  king,  §  22.  '  Op.  ciL,  §  67. 


The  Tao  of  Man  6i 


— these  virtues  are  all  comprised  in  that  old 
Taoist  term  "emptiness,"  which  expresses  the 
contrary  of  the  vice  of  "being  full  of  one's  self,'* 
and  they  are  equivalent  to  absence  of  desires  and 
passions.  Man,  to  become  "empty"  like  the  Tao 
of  Heaven,  ought,  like  Heaven,  to  cast  off  material- 
istic desires,  sympathies  or  aversion;  he  ought  to 
live  in  a  state  of  indifference  and  insensibility. 
Desiring  nothing,  not  even  knowledge  or  wisdom, 
and  not  being  stirred  up  to  any  active  striving, 
he  becomes  a  nothing.  In  this  state  of  "dis- 
passion"  or  apathy,  he  is  perfectly  pure,  as  pure 
as  Heaven  itself.  This  Stoicism  is  preached  with 
peculiar  emphasis  by  Kwan-tszS  as  the  way  leading 
to  divinity,  to  loss  of  materiality,  assimilation  with 
the  Tao,  and  finally — since  the  Tao  is  eternal — to 
perpetuation  of  the  spiritual  or  divine  existence: 

"The  Tao  is  not  far  off,  and  yet  it  is  difficult 
to  reach.  If  man  makes  himself  void  of  desires, 
shen  will  enter  into  him  and  abide  in  him ;  if  he 
sweeps  such  impurity  out  of  him,  shen  will  re- 
main in  him  for  good.  'Emptiness*  and  'noth- 
ingness' are  immateriaHty;  I  call  them  Tao.  .  .  . 
Heaven  is  emptiness;  Earth  is  quietude;  they  do 


62     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


not  struggle  together.  .  .  .  Do  away  with  your 
selfishness,  and  do  not  speak;  then  your  shen  and 
intelligence  will  naturally  remain  in  you.  .  .  . 
By  comprehending  well  the  practice  of  '  tacitur- 
nity *  and  'inactivity'  {wu  wet),  you  will  compre- 
hend the  warp  and  groundwork  of  the  Tao.  .  .  . 
The  man  of  superior  virtue  is  *  placid '  and  *  con- 
tented'; he  is  inactive,  he  discards  knowledge 
and  wisdom. 

**  There  is  between  *  emptiness'  and  Man  no 
separation,  and  yet  only  the  perfect  man  ac- 
quires the  Tao  of  '  emptiness ' ;  therefore,  I  said, 
the  Tao  dwells  among  men  and  nevertheless 
is  hard  to  find.  That  which  rules  Man  in  this 
world  is  his  vitality.  If  he  gets  rid  of  his  de- 
sires, 'emptiness'  will  pervade  him  completely, 
and  this  being  the  case,  he  is  quiet ;  being  quiet, 
he  consists  of  vitality,  and  he  who  consists  of 
vitality  becomes  independent  of  matter.  In- 
dependent, he  is  refulgent,  he  is  a  god  (shen). 
Divinity  is  the  highest  dignity  that  exists.  .  .  . 
Therefore,  I  say,  unless  we  purify  ourselves  [from 
desires  and  passions],  divinity  will  not  dwell  in 
us. 

"Emptiness  means  that  there  is  nothing  hid- 


The  Tao  of  Man  63 


den  within ;  therefore  I  say,  if  you  remove  know- 
ledge and  wisdom  from  you,  what  then  can  lead 
you  to  striving  for  anything?  and  if  there  is 
nothing  within  you,  what  plans  will  you  ever 
make?  And  if  you  strive  for  nothing  and  lay 
no  plans,  you  will  be  without  cares,  and  cares 
being  absent,  you  are  back  at  the  starting-point, 
'emptiness/  The  Tao  of  Heaven  is  'empty,' 
and  this  is  so  because  it  has  no  materiality; 
being  'empty,'  it  cannot  be  exhausted;  being 
immaterial,  nothing  drives  it  from  its  throne; 
and  not  being  driven  from  its  throne  it  overflows 
the  myriads  of  beings  without  ever  changing. "' 

Let  us  make  the  summary  of  this  quotation. 
"Emptiness"  Qiu)  or  "nothingness"  {wu),  ac- 
quired by  suppression  or  removal  of  the  passions 
and  desires,  is  correlate  with  khi  chiov  "removal 
of  knowledge  or  wisdom,"  with  wu  wei  or  "inac- 
tion," with  tsing  or  "qmescence"  and  puh  yen  or 
"taciturnity. "  It  means  /  Hen  or  "placidity, "  yu 
or  "  contentedness,  "ze;^^/^*,  or  "  freedom  from  cares 
or  anxious  thoughts. "  It  also  means  kieh  or 
"purity,"    which   naturally   causes  shen   of   the 

'  Book  13,  or  Chapter  36. 


64     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


Universe  to  settle  in  the  individual  and  abide  in 
him;  in  other  terms,  his  shen  or  vital  soul,  always 
re-invigorated  by  the  Universe,  remains  strong, 
becomes,  indeed,  stronger  and  stronger;  he  thus 
becomes  unsubstantial,  immaterial,  assimilated 
with  the  Tao  itself;  his  strong  tsing  or  vitality 
places  him  beyond  the  reach  of  bad  influences 
around,  renders  him  tuh  lih  or  *' independent"; 
he  becomes  an  integrant  part  of  the  vital  soul  of 
the  Universe  itself,  ming  shen  or  "a  shining  or  in- 
telligent divinity. "  We  may  briefly  define  the  sys- 
tem by  saying  that  "emptiness"  or  **dispassion" 
or  "indifferentism"  is  equivalent  to  wu  wei,  i.e., 
"inaction"  or  "quiescence."  Lao-tsze  preached 
the  cultivation  of  those  highest  qualities  of  nature 
in  the  following  words: 

"Carry  up  the  state  of  'emptiness'  to  its 
highest  degree,  and  thus  maintain  quiescence 
with  unwearying  application.' 

Not  to  value  superior  virtue  is  the  way  to 

V  keep  the  people  from  striving.     To  set  no  value 

^  on  articles  which  are  difficult  to  get  is  the  way 

to  keep  the  people  from  becoming  thieves.    Not 

'  Tao  teh  king,  §  i6. 


The  Tao  of  Man  65 


to  mind  what  is  desirable  is  the  way  to  keep 
the  heart  from  disorder.  Therefore  the  perfect 
man  in  the  administration  of  his  people  empties 
their  hearts,  but  fills  their  bellies;  he  weakens 
their  will,  but  strengthens  their  bones ;  he  con- 
stantly prevents  their  having  any  knowledge 
or  desire,  and  causes  those  who  have  knowledge 
to  refrain  from  using  it.  When  thus  they  prac- 
tice '  inaction'  nothing  is  unruly  or  unruled. " ' 

This  Universistic  system  of  ethics,  expounded  by 
the  Classics  and  by  the  writings  of  Lao,  Chwang 
and  Kwan,  is  the  only  one  of  which  ancient 
Chinese  literature  gives  us  the  principles  and 
tenets.  We  must  therefore  perforce  conclude 
that  no  other  system  existed,  for,  if  another 
had  existed,  it  would  infallibly  have  left  some 
impression  on  the  literature.  The  Classics  have 
maintained  the  system  of  the  Confucian  school, 
ever  since  this  was  created  under  the  Han  dynasty. 
We  cannot  fail  to  perceive  that  it  actually  was  a 
system  of  ascetic  discipline,  leading  to  purity  and 
divinity.  But  Confucianism  rejected  one  princi- 
pal feature  on  which  Kwan  and  Lao  laid  special 

$ 


66     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


stress,  namely,  the  suppression  of  knowledge  or 
wisdom.  Indeed,  the  Classics,  especially  the 
^^C' writings  of  Mencius,  held  up  the  cultivation  of 
wisdom  as  one  of  the  great  means  leading  to  per- 
fection and  divinity.  Besides,  Mencius  identified 
wisdom  or  knowledge  with  *' immutable  correct- 
ness, "  the  fourth  of  the  cardinal  virtues  which  are 
inherent  in  man  by  heaven  itself  (see  p.  33),  viz., 
benevolence,  righteousness,  regard  for  laws  and 
rites  of  social  life,  and  wisdom. 

"These  four  principles,"  said  he,  "as  naturally 
belong  to  a  man  as  his  four  limbs.  .  .  .  Since  we 
have  them  in  ourselves,  let  us  know  how  to  give 
to  all  of  them  their  full  development  and  com- 
pletion. '  They  are  not  infused  from  without ;  we 
positively  have  them  (naturally  in  ourselves.)"* 

The  imperative  duty  of  cultivating  knowledge  or 
wisdom,  together  with  the  three  other  great  endow- 
ments of  the  Universe,  thus  having  been  imposed 
upon  mankind  by  the  greatest  apostle  of  Confu- 
cius, Confucianism  was  forced  to  diverge  from 
Taoism.     In  studying  the  problem  of  the  bifurca- 

«  Book  Kung-sun  Chen,  1,6.  >  Book  Kao-tszB,  1, 6. 


The  Tao  of  Man  67 


tion  of  Universistic  religion  in  China  in  the  period 
of  Han,  that  famous  cardinal  virtue  c/ti^  knowledge 
or  wisdom,  should  certainly  not  be  overlooked  as  a 
factor  of  importance  in  the  process.  Let  it  be 
noted,  however,  that  the  conflict  may  have  con- 
cerned merely  the  meaning  of  the  word  removal  of 
"knowledge,"  which  may  have  meant,  in  Taoist 
eyes,  removal  of  ''consciousness  or  feeling,"  chi 
having  indeed  the  signification  which  these  three 
words  express.  It  does  not  appear  that  in  later 
ages  Taoists  have  generally  excelled  in  ignorance. 
The  Classics  did  not,  however,  contain  anything 
compelling  Confucianism  to  dissent  from  ancient 
Taoism  in  respect  to  the  doctrine  of  wu  wei  or 
"inaction,"  tsing  or  "quiescence,"  and  puh  yen  or 
"taciturnity. "  This  famous  principle  of  the  Tao  of 
Man  has,  accordingly,  forever  remained  common 
property  of  both  systems.  We  may  safely  reduce 
the  three  terms  to  one:  "quietism."  Contempla- 
tion of  the  Universe  led,  of  course,  to  the  discovery 
of  the  plain  truth  that  the  Universe  performs  its 
beneficent  work  of  production  and  protection 
without  passion;  that  it  operates  smoothly  and 
quietly  without  ever  visibly  exerting  itself;  it  is 
free  from  effort,   and   all   its  processes   proceed 


68     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


successfully  without  striving,  demonstration  or 
noise.  The  Tao  is  not  the  active  cause  of  all  move- 
ment in  the  Cosmos  and  in  its  phenomena,  but  it  is 
that  movement  itself.     It  is  not  action,  but  law. 

"The  law  of  the  Tao,"  says  Lao-tsze,  "is  spon- 
taneity."' And  in  the  Yih  king  we  read:  "The 
mutations  or  processes  of  the  Universe  work 
without  thought  or  calculation,  and  without 
action ;  they  work  silently,  without  agitation ;  and 
yet,  when  they  stir,  they  pervade  every  factor 
under  the  heavens.  "^ 

Spontaneous,  therefore,  must  be  the  Tao  of 
Alan,  in  particular  that  of  the  ruler,  who  ought  to 
be  the  embodiment  of  all  perfection.  The  ruler 
must  live  a  life  moved  by  inward  spontaneity  only; 
he  may  not  allow  himself  to  be  guided  by  self- 
determination  or  a  strong  will;  nor  may  he  be 
dominated  by  a  spirit  of  initiative;  he  should 
never  act  a  part,  and,  least  of  all,  force  the  nature 
of  things.     Kwan-tszS  wrote: 

"  Wu  wei  is  Tao;  to  cherish  it  is  Virtue  {teh) ; 
consequently  there  is  between  Tao  and  Virtue 
no  difference,  and  those  who  preach  both  do 
»  Tao  teh  king,  §  25.  •  Hi  tsze,  I. 


The  Tao  of  Man  69 


not  make  any  distinction  between  them.  Rulers 
of  men  have  their  place  on  the  Yin  (the  Earth), 
and  as  the  Yin  is  still,  I  declare  that  any  ruler 
who  is  active  will  lose  his  throne. ' 

The  perfect  man  esteems  virtue  most,  and 
active  work  least.  Because  Heaven  does  not 
operate  actively,  the  four  seasons  descend  in 
turn,  and  the  formation  and  development  of  all 
that  exists  takes  place  thereby ;  because  the  ruler 
does  not  work  actively,  his  orders  and  measures 
descend  orderly,  so  that  the  myriads  of  works 
and  occupations  of  mankind  are  properly  ac- 
complished. ^ 

Inaction  is  the  part  of  the  emperor.  "^ 

Lao-tszS  moved  quite  within  this  same  sphere  of 
philosophy. 

"The  Tao  is  always  without  action,  and  so 
there  is  nothing  which  it  does  not  perform.  If 
rulers  are  able  to  observe  the  same  inaction,  the 
myriads  of  beings  will  form  and  transform  them- 
selves spontaneously. -• 

*  Book  13,  or  Chapter  36.  '  Book  10,  or  Chapter  26. 

3  Book  I ,  or  Chapter  5.  ■«  Tao  teh  king,  §  37. 


70     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


Do  no  deeds;  occupy  yourself  with  inaction.'** 
Such  inactivity  may  be  acquired  gradually. 

"The  man  of  study  increases  his  knowledge 
daily,  but  he  who  cultivates  the  Tao  diminishes 
his  knowledge  from  day  to  day;  he  diminishes 
it  and  diminishes  it  again,  till  he  arrives  at  in- 
action; having  arrived  at  inaction,  there  is 
nothing  which  he  cannot  do."' 

In  other  words,  wu  wet  endows  Man  with  almight- 
iness,  the  same  that  the  Tao  of  the  Universe 
possesses. 

As  a  matter  of  course,  such  almightiness,  ac- 
quired by  wu  wei,  may  become  the  property  es- 
pecially of  the  rulers  of  the  empire,  who  are  the 
highest  power  in  the  Universe  after  Heaven  and 
Earth;  it  will  render  them  irresistible,  and  make 
their  reigns  successful  and  glorious,  without  the 
least  exertion  on  their  part. 

"The  world  under  heaven,  '*  said  Lao-tszS,  "is 
an  instrument  in  the  hands  of  a  god  (the  em- 
peror) .  It  should  not  be  actively  governed.  He 
« Op.  ciu,  §  63.  » Op.  cit.,  %  48. 


The  Tao  of  Man  71 


who  governs  it  with  activity  will  niin  it;  he  who 
firmly  holds  it  in  his  grasp  will  lose  it. ' 

A  lord  of  mankind  who  is  sustained  by  the 
Tao  never  tyrannises  over  the  empire  by  the 
force  of  arms.  ^ 

The  empire  is  always  conquered  by  'inac- 
tion*; he  who  takes  active  measures  to  that 
end  is  not  fit  to  master  empire.^ 

The  empire  is  made  one 's  own  by  freedom 
from  action.  .  .  .  Therefore,  a  perfect  man 
says,  '  I  am  without  action,  and  the  people  are 
developed  and  transformed  spontaneously;  I 
prefer  being  silent,  and  the  people  of  them- 
selves become  orthodox;  I  do  not  actively  oc- 
cupy myself  with  anything,  and  the  people  of 
themselves  become  rich;  I  am  without  desires, 
and  the  people  spontaneously  reach  the  state 
of  purity. '"4 

Chwang-tsze  in  particular  lauded  wu  wet  with 
enthusiasm.  Confucius,  a  good  Taoist,  as  was 
every  thinker  of  his  time,  greatly  admired  it. 
According  to  the  Lun  yu,  one  of  the  Classics,  he 
exclaimed:  "The  man  who  reigned  by  absence  of 

'0p.ciL,i2g.    » Op.  ct/.,  §  30.    3  op.  ct7.,  §  4  S.    *0p.cit.,^S7- 


^^2     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


action,  was  he  not  Shun  (23rd  cent.  B.C.)? 
What  did  he  do?  He  made  himself  venerable, 
and  [sat  on  his  throne]  facing  due  south;  this  was 
all  he  did!"'  From  a  passage  in  Chwang-tsze's 
writings  it  would,  however,  appear  that  China's 
greatest  sage  was  not  quite  a  fanatical  devotee  of 
Wu  wei-ism.  Khii  Ts  'eoh-tsze  said  to  Ch  'ang-wu- 
tsze: 

"I  heard  the  Master  speak  of  the  perfect 
man,  who  does  not  occupy  himself  with 
worldly  business,  and  does  not  follow  after 
profits,  nor  try  to  avoid  what  is  hurtful,  nor 
take  pleasure  in  striving  for  anything,  nor 
direct  himself  actively  after  the  Tao;  who  has 
no  words,  and  yet  speaks;  who  speaks,  and  yet 
has  no  words,  and  thus  moves  beyond  the  dust 
and  dirt  (of  the  world).  The  Master  con- 
sidered this  to  be  vain  talk,  but  I  consider  it 
to  be  conduct  in  accordance  with  the  excellent 
Tao."^ 

We  learn  from  this  episode  that  on  a  par  with 
"inaction"  was  placed  the  practice  of  "speaking 
'  XV,  4.  » Book  I ,  or  Chapter  2 . 


The  Tao  of  Man  73 


without  words" ;  which  means  that  the  true  Taoist 
had  to  abstain  from  actively  teaching  others,  and 
should,  without  eloquence  or  noise,  impart  lessons 
and  wisdom  by  the  influence  emanating  from 
his  naturally  perfect  individuality.  This  idea  is 
expressed  by  Chwang-tsze  in  these  terms: 

"The  teaching  of  the  great  man  emanates 
from  him  as  the  shadow  accompanies  a  shape 
and  the  echo  a  sound.  When  questioned,  he 
answers,    giving    all    he    has    in    his    mind.^ 

Those  who  have  wisdom  do  not  speak,  but 
those  who  speak  have  no  wisdom;  hence  the 
perfect  man  imparts  his  instruction  without 
the  use  of  speech."^ 

The  statement  that  the  wise  do  not  speak, 
and  that  those  who  speak  are  not  wise,  occurs 
also  in  the  Tao  teh  king  (§  56).  In  another  place 
Chwang-tsze  says: 

"Rule  the  kingdom  by  inaction,  this  is 
heavenly;  speak  to  it  by  means  of  inaction, 
this  is  virtue.^ 

*  Book  4,  or  Chapter  1 1 .  '  Book  7,  or  Chapter  22. 

3  Book  5,  or  Chapter  12. 


74     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


Heaven  and  Earth  possess  the  highest  ex- 
cellence, and  yet  they  say  nothing.  The  four 
seasons  promulgate  to  mankind  the  clearest 
universal  law,  but  they  do  not  discuss  it.  The 
myriads  of  beings  and  things  exist  according  to 
perfect,  natural  laws,  but  they  say  nothing. 
.  .  .  Therefore  the  men  in  the  highest  sense 
observed  wisdom,  and  the  most  perfect  men 
performed  nothing;  which  means  that  they 
looked  to  Heaven  and  Earth  (as  the  model). "' 

Confucianism  could  not  possibly  refuse  ^'taci- 
turnity *'  a  place  in  its  system  of  ethics,  because  it  is 
explicitly  stated  in  the  Yih  king  that  "Heaven, 
in  its  silence,  is  self-absorbed  .  .  .  and  Earth,  in 
its  stillness,  is  self-collected.  * — Earth  is  thoroughly 
silent. "  3  Moreover,  according  to  another  classical 
book,  Confucius  himself  once  said,  when  in  a 
taciturn  mood,  "I  would  rather  not  talk."  "But 
if  thou  sayest  nothing.  Master,"  Tsz^-kung  ex- 
claimed, "what  shall  we,  thy  disciples,  have  to 
record?"  "Does  Heaven  say  aught?"  the  sage 
retorted,  "and  yet  the  seasons  pursue  their  course, 

»  Appendix,  126.     Book  7,  or  Chapter  22. 

» Appendix,  127.    Hi  ts'ze.  I.       3  Appendix,  128.     Wen  yen. 


The  Tao  of  Man  75 


so  that  all  things  are  produced;  does  Heaven  say- 
aught?"' 

We  can  hardly  refuse  to  believe  that  the  great 
principle  of  inaction  or  "dispassion"  exercised  a 
predominant  influence  on  the  minds  of  ancient 
Chinese  religious  thinkers,  since  we  see  that  Lao- 
tsze  went  so  far  as  to  proscribe  even  all  active 
striving  for  perfection,  or  holiness,  wisdom  and 
virtue. 

"Discard  perfection,  throw  wisdom  away 
from  you,"  thus  he  admonished  the  ruling 
prince  of  his  time,  "the  people  will  be  blessed 
thereby  a  hundred  times.  Renounce  bene- 
volence and  cast  righteousness  away  from 
you,  and  the  people  will  become  doubly  filial 
and  tender-hearted.  Renounce  cleverness  and 
cast  away  all  desire  for  gain,  and  nowhere 
will  there  be  any  thieves  or  robbers.  These 
three  lessons  I  consider  to  contain  so  much 
that  there  are  not  characters  enough  to  write 
it."» 

It  is  easy  enough  to  take  this  statement  liter- 
ally, and  read  in  it  an  attack  on  no  less  than  three 

*  Appendix,  129.    Lun  yii,  XVII,  19.  '  Tao  teh  king,  §  19. 


76      Development  of  Religion  in  China 


of  the  four  cardinal  virtues  which  heaven  itself 
has  implanted  in  mankind,  that  is  to  say  rebellion 
against  the  very  core  of  the  holy,  classical  system 
of  morality.  There  is,  however,  in  ancient  writ- 
ings nothing  which  could  entitle  us  to  suspect 
Taoism  of  such  animosity  against  its  own  virtues. 
The  august  ''inaction, "  the  high  quality  by  which 
the  Tao  itself  distributes  all  its  blessings  over  the 
human  world  under  heaven,  merely  appears  here 
in  the  Tao  of  Man  in  its  ultimate,  most  sharply 
defined  form:  even  in  cultivating  the  highest 
virtues  there  should  be  no  striving.  Confucian 
zealots,  slaves  of  the  letter,  may,  however,  forge 
out  of  the  paragraph  a  branding  iron  with  which 
to  stigmatise  Lao  as  author  of  a  vile  heresy. 

In  the  same  light  we  must  read  the  following 
lines  in  the  writings  of  Chwang-tsz^; 

"Delight  in  clear-sightedness  leads  to  licen- 
tious pursuit  of  colours,  and  delight  in  acute 
hearing  to  seeking  licentiously  the  pleasures 
of  musical  sounds.  Delight  in  benevolence 
leads  to  disorder  in  virtue,  delight  in  right- 
eousness to  opposition  to  what  is  natural  law; 
delight  in  laws  and  rites  of  social  life  furthers 


The  Tao  of  Man  77 


artifices,  and  delight  in  music  promotes  licen- 
tiousness. Delight  in  perfection  or  holiness  is 
an  aid  to  ingenious  tricks  (magic?) ;  delight  in 
wisdom  contributes  to  fault-finding.  .  .  .  Un- 
less all  men  under  the  heavens  suppress  these 
eight  passions  produced  by  their  natural  charac- 
ter, the  consequence  will  be  that  the  world  under 
the  heaven  will  be  thrown  into  disorder;  then 
also  men  will  begin  to  esteem  and  cherish  those 
passions  to  such  an  extent  that  the  whole 
world  under  heaven  will  be  led  astray.  .  .  . 
Therefore,  the  man  who  has  virtue  of  the 
higher  order,  if  he  can  refrain  from  displaying 
the  five  (cardinal  virtues)  which  are  hidden  in 
him,  and  does  not  betray  his  acuteness  of  sight 
and  hearing,  will  sit  motionless  like  a  representa- 
tion of  the  dead  (at  sacrifices),  and  yet  his  dra- 
gon (or  Imperial  Majesty)  will  appear;  he  will 
be  absorbed  in  silence,  and  yet  his  thunder  will 
be  heard ;  his  divine  power  will  set  to  work,  and 
heaven  will  follow  it ;  while  abiding  in  tranquil- 
lity and  'inaction,'  the  myriads  of  beings  will 
gather  under  his  genial  influence.  What  more 
has  he  to  do  to  govern  the  world  at  leisure?"' 
*  Book  4,  or  Chapter  1 1. 


78      Development  of  Religion  in  China 


Thus  we  see  it  preached  anew  that  dispassion 
and  inaction,  even  with  regard  to  the  cultivation 
of  virtue,  are  sure  to  open  spontaneously  to  a 
ruler  the  way  to  almightiness.  Virtue  ought 
to  be  cultivated  and  displayed  phlegmatically, 
without  enthusiasm,  in  the  same  quiet  manner  in 
which  the  Universe  displays  it.  Like  all  his  ac- 
tions, Man*s  natural  goodness  ought  to  operate 
spontaneously. 

"A  holy  man, '*  says  Chwang,  "copies  his  line 
of  conduct  from  heaven,  but  does  not  try  to 
further  its  works  or  designs;  he  seeks  perfec- 
tion in  virtue,  but  without  taking  trouble  for 
it;  he  excels  in  the  Tao,  but  without  intention 
to  do  so.  ^ 

The  ancients,  who  regulated  their  Tao  to  this 
end,  nourished  their  wisdom  by  means  of  pla- 
cidity, and  all  through  life  never  used  their 
wisdom  for  doing  anything  with  action;  they 
accordingly  used  their  wisdom  to  nourish  their 
placidity.  When  wisdom  and  placidity  thus 
blend  together  in  a  man  and  nourish  each  other, 
harmony  and  law  are  produced  by  his  natural 
»  Book  4,  or  Oiapter  1 1 . 


The  Tao  of  Man  79 


character.  Yes,  his  virtue  is  that  harmony,  and 
his  Tao  is  that  law;  his  virtue  comprises  all  that 
exits,  namely  benevolence;  his  Tao  is  natural 
law  to  all  that  exists,  namely  righteousness.**' 

« Bc»k  6,  or  Chapter  i6. 


CHAPTER  III 

PERFECTION,  HOLINESS,  OR  DIVINITY 

IF  the  origin  and  first  development  of  China's 
^  ancient  system  of  religious  ethics  has  been 
sketched  intelligibly  in  the  preceding  two  Chapters, 
we  may  define  that  system  in  the  following  terms: 
It  is  the  Tao  or  Way  of  Man,  which  consists  of 
man's  virtues  or  qualities  {teh)  and  the  method  of 
acquiring  these  spontaneously.  These  virtues  or 
qualities  are  emanations  from  the  virtues  or  quali- 
ties of  the  Universe;  they  are,  in  the  main,  four 
cardinal  virtues  (shang),  which  correspond  to  the 
four  principal  virtues  of  Heaven  itself,  and  which 
constitute  man's  natural  goodness  (shen),  which 
is  his  nature  {sing),  his  moral  disposition  or 
character.  The  germ  of  those  four  virtues  is 
deposited  in  Man  with  his  soul  (shen),  which  is  a 
part  of  the  Yang  of  the  Universe;  this  Yang  repre- 
sents warmth,  light,  life,  and  is  especially  assim- 
ilated with  Heaven.     The  development  of  those 

80 


Perfection,  Holiness,  or  Divinity        8i 


virtues  should  be  brought  about  by  imitation  of 
the  qualities  of  Heaven,  especially  its  wu  wei,  or 
inactivity,  spontaneity,  quietness  or  placidity, 
that  is  to  say  by  suppression  or  regulation  of  the 
passions;  indeed,  seeing  that  the  Tao  or  Order  of 
the  Universe  itself,  which  is  the  source  of  all 
goodness,  performs  the  work  of  creation  and  bless- 
ing spontaneously,  without  active  effort,  human 
virtue  must  operate  and  develop  in  the  same  dis- 
passionate way.  According  to  another  school, 
especially  known  as  the  Confucian,  the  way  to 
perfection  is,  moreover,  that  of  wisdom,  acquired 
by  study,  with  the  holy  Classics  for  text-books. 
This  is  the  pass-key,  without  which  no  proper 
understanding  of  China's  ethical  speculation  and 
doctrine,  from  the  oldest  time  to  this  day,  is 
possible.  By  means  of  this  key  we  may  find  the 
path  that  leads  safely  through  Chinese  literature, 
dealing  with  philosophy,  morality,  and  religion. 

The  ideal  purpose  of  that  perfection  of  Man 
is  his  thorough  assimilation  with  the  Tao  of 
Heaven,  produced  by  the  steady  improvement  of 
his  shen,  or  yang  soul,  so  that,  in  the  end,  this  soul 
will  equal  in  perfection  and  nature  the  myriads  of 
immaterial  shen  or  gods  of  which  the  Yang  of 

6 


82     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


the  Universe  is  composed.  We  may  call  that 
state  "holiness"  or  "divinity."  Ancient  Taoist 
authors  call  it  cheriy  "reality,"  a  term  which  must 
have  existed  in  the  days  of  Lao-tsz^,  since  we  read 
in  the  Tao  teh  king  these  words,  "if  one  cultivates 
it  (the  Tao)  in  himself,  his  virtue  will  become 
reality."'  Elsewhere,  in  particular  in  the  Chung 
yung — the  Confucian  Classic  which  is  devoted 
in  the  main  to  Taoist  perfection  by  virtue — 
holiness  is  called  ch  Hng,  which  likewise  means 
"reality,"  so  that  we  are  entitled  to  consider  this 
term  as  synonymous  with  chen.  And  besides,  in 
all  ancient  books  holiness  is  called  shing.  More- 
over, since  perfection  means  divinity,  it  is  denoted 
by  the  word  shen. 

Many  definitions  of  holiness  or  sanctity  might 
be  quoted  from  the  ancient  books,  but  the  follow- 
ing may  suffice.     According  to  Chwang: 

"He  who  departs  not  from  chen  is  to  be  called 
a  man  in  the  very  highest  or  perfect  sense.  ^ 

Chen  is  the  highest  degree  of  vitality  or  spiritu- 
ality ;  the  man  who  does  not  possess  such  spirit- 
uality cannot  possibly  stir  or  propel  others.  "^ 
'  §  54.        ^  Book  10,  or  Chapter  33.      J  Book  10,  or  Chapter  31. 


Perfection,  Holiness,  or  Divinity      83 


And  the  philosopher  Liu  Ngan,  who  lived  in  the 
second  century  B.C.,  wrote  that  "the  man  who  is 
chen  is  he  whose  natural  moral  constitution  {sing) 
is  assimilated  with  the  Tao. "' 

What  are,  according  to  the  ancient  authors, 
the  attributes  of  holiness? 

We  are  told  by  Kwan  that  (since  it  consists  in 
assimilation  with  the  Yang  of  the  Universe,  which 
is  the  brightness  of  Heaven  itself)  hoHness  ensures 
possession  of  the  brightness  or  intelligence,  which 
the  Yang  and  Heaven  themselves  possess.  (Cf. 
p.  63).  It  is  taught  also  by  Lao  that  this  same 
perfection  through  dispassion  or  wu  wet  may  lead 
rulers  to  the  possession  of  irresistibility  or  almighti- 
ness.  (Cf.  p.  69).  Of  course,  such  holiness  im- 
plies the  possession  of  all  virtues  which  man  on 
this  earth  may  hope  to  possess.     Says  Chwang: 

"  If  reality  plays  a  part  in  Man  as  his  method 
of  life,  he  serves  his  parents  with  tender  filial 
submission  and  love,  and  his  ruler  with  loyalty 
and  integrity.^ 

Who  is  a  holy  man?  It  is  he  who  is  like 
the  saints  of  antiquity,  who  ascended  heights 
*  Hung  lieh  kiai,  Chapter  7 .  » Book  i  o,  or  Chapter  3 1 . 


84     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


without  fear,  entered  water  without  getting  wet, 
and  went  into  fire  without  being  burnt.  We 
know  that,  by  rising  to  the  use  of  the  Tao,  it  is 
possible  to  do  such  things."' 

This  is  a  distinct  affirmation  that  the  holy 
Taoist  borrows  from  the  Tao,  which  he  possesses, 
superhuman,  magical  strength.  The  wonderful 
qualities  of  such  god-men  are  sketched  by  Chwang 
in  a  dialogue  of  certain  fictitious  or  real  worthies. 


"Far  away,  on  the  hill  of  Ku-sia,  god-men 
dwell.  Their  flesh  and  skins  are  like  ice  and 
snow ;  they  are  as  tender  and  delicate  as  virgins. 
They  do  not  eat  any  of  the  five  cereals,  but 
inhale  wind  and  drink  dew.  They  ride  on  the 
clouds,  with  flying  dragons  for  their  teams,  they 
ramble  even  beyond  the  four  Oceans.  By  con- 
centrating their  divinity  they  can  save  beings 
from  disease  and  plague,  and  secure  for  every 
year  its  grain  harvests.  .  .  .  No  beings  can 
hurt  any  of  these  men ;  the  greatest  floods,  ris- 
ing to  the  sky,  cannot  drown  them ;  nor  will  they 
feel  the  intensest  heat,  were  it  even  great  enough 
'  Book  3,  or  Chapter  6. 


Perfection,  Holiness,  or  Divinity      85 


to  melt  metal  and  rocks,  or  to  bum  the  ground 
and  the  hills.  Out  of  their  very  dust  and  chaff 
you  might  still  bum  or  cast  (like  pottery  or 
bronze)  men  like  Yao  and  Shun.  How  should 
they  be  willing  to  have  anything  to  do  with 
any  materiality?" 

Further,  Chwang  makes  a  man  named  Wang 
Rh  apotheosize  the  holy  man  in  these  grandilo- 
quent terms: 

**  *  The  man  of  the  highest  order  is  a  god. 
A  great  lake  may  be  burning  about  him,  it  will 
not  bum  him;  the  Hwangho  and  the  Han  may 
be  frozen  up,  and  still  he  will  not  feel  any  cold; 
thunderbolts  in  quick  succession  may  split  the 
moimtains,  and  winds  may  shake  the  oceans, 
they  cannot  frighten  him.  Being  so  [perfect],  he 
can  drive  on  clouds  and  vapours,  and,  on  the 
sun  and  moon,  ramble  beyond  the  oceans  of  the 
four  quarters  of  the  world.  Neither  death  nor 
life  makes  any  change  in  him,  and  how  much 
less  should  anything  which  causes  good  or  evil 
be  able  to  do  so?'"' 
*  Book  I,  or  Chapters  i  and  2. 


86     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


Another  wise  man,  according  to  Chwang,  has 
said:  "Men  who  possess  divinity  in  a  superior  de- 
gree ride  or  drive  on  the  light,  so  that  their  shapes 
vanish  in  it;  they  are  what  we  call  shining  far 
and  wide."' 

Other  Taoist  writers  chime  in  with  these  glori- 
fications of  the  saints.  Hoh  Kwan-tsze,  who  is 
supposed  to  have  lived  in  the  fourth  century 
before  our  era,  describes  their  attributes  in  these 
remarkable  words: 

"The  saint  is  bom  after  Heaven  and  Earth, 
but  he  knows  their  beginning,  and,  though  he 
will  die  before  Heaven  and  Earth,  he  knows 
what  and  how  will  be  their  end.  For  since  the 
T!ao  envelops  him,  he  can  conceive  and  mea- 
sure such  things.  "^ 

The  strength  of  the  saint  is  not  that  of  heaven 
and  earth,  but  he  knows  their  functions.  His 
breath  is  not  like  the  Yin  and  the  Yang,  yet  he 
can  prescribe  rules  to  these  universal  powers. 
He  is  but  one,  yet  he  may  be  the  monitor  of  the 
myriads  of  beings.  He  does  not  concentrate  in 
himself  all  excellences  that  exist,  and  yet  is  able 
«  Book  5,  or  Chapter  12.  » Chapters  10 and  18. 


Perfection,  Holiness,  or  Divinity       Sj 


to  commend  good,  and  point  out  faults.  He 
is  not  so  rich  in  virtues  as  the  Tao,  and  yet  he 
may  be  elevated  above  it.  He  does  not  shine  so 
brightly  as  the  gods,  but  he  can  be  their  chief. 
Though  not  concealed  from  view  as  are  the  kwei 
and  the  shen,  he  can  display  their  spiritual  power. 
Not  so  solid  as  metal  and  stone,  he  can,  neverthe- 
less, bum  their  hardness.  Not  formed  so  reg- 
ularly as  a  square  or  a  circle,  he  can  construct 
such  figures.*'' 

We  may  then,  after  all  these  descriptions,  say 
that,  according  to  the  eldest  and  principal  patri- 
archs of  Universism,  the  holy  Taoist  possesses  su- 
pernatural powers  and  wisdom,  and  may  employ 
them  spontaneously  to  produce  superhuman  ef-j 
f ects ;  he  is  omnipotent,  omniscient,  omnipresent,  \ 
even  a  god  among  the  gods.     He  is  also  invulner- 1 
able.     We  cannot  suppose  that  this  invulnerability  ' 
was  meant  to  be  taken  literally.     For  it  cannot 
possibly  have  escaped  notice  that  even  Taoists 
of  eminence  died;  their  graves  may  have  been 
generally  known,  and  may  have  been  frequented 
places   of    worship.     Chwang    himself    mentions 

^  Chapters  1 8. 


88     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


one  Shen-pa,  who  lived  on  water  only  in  a  rock 
cave,  to  the  age  of  seventy,  without  having  lost 
his  youthful  complexion,  till  a  tiger  came  and 
devoured  him.  But,  says  he,  "this  saint  had 
nourished  his  inner  man,  and  the  tiger  merely 
devoured  the  outward."^  And  the  Taoist  philo- 
sopher Han  Fei,  who  lived  in  the  third  century 
before  Christ,  having  mentioned  a  number  of 
good  Taoists  who  were  put  to  death,  added 
explicitly: 

"Those  men,  though  eminently  virtuous,  and 
even  holy,  could  escape  neither  death  nor  bodily 
mutilation  and  injury;  and  why  was  this  the 
case?  Well,  we,  stupid  men,  can  hardly  explain 
it."^ 

We  may,  therefore,  conclude  that  eminent  Taoists 
might  die  indeed,  but  could  much  better  than 
any  other  individuals  withstand  the  influences 
which  endanger  life. 

"When  the  season  of  rigorous  cold  has  come, " 
thus  Liu  Ngan  wrote,   "and  frost  and  snow 

*  Book  7,  or  Chapter  19.  » Book  i ,  §  3, 


Perfection,  Holiness,  or  Divinity        89 


descend,  then  we  perceive  the  foliage  of  the 
pines  and  cypresses.  And  when  the  holy  man 
is  pressed  by  hardships,  and  has  to  brave 
dangers,  and  when  perils  are  arrayed  before 
him,  we  learn  that  he  never  loses  his  Tao. " ' 

To  the  students  of  the  history  of  ancient  and 
modem  religions  it  is  of  some  value  to  know  that 
Man  in  Asia,  in  times  much  older  than  the 
Christian  age,  possessed  positive  ideas  about 
holiness  and  divinity,  and  about  magical  wisdom 
and  art  which  such  divinity  conferred;  and  that 
it  is  possible,  by  the  help  of  Chinese  books,  to 
define  those  ideas  satisfactorily  as  products  of  an 
all-dominating  Universism  rooted  in  a  remote 
antiquity. 

As  stated  in  the  preceding  Chapter,  there  is 
among  the  four  virtues,  which  heaven  has  placed 
in  every  man  as  elements  of  his  natural  character, 
and  the  cultivation  of  which  leads  to  holiness, 
that  which  the  YiJi  king  calls  "immutable  correct- 
ness,"  and  which  was  identified  with  wisdom  or 
knowledge,   because,   by  wisdom,   correctness  of 

^  Hung  lieh  kiai,  Chapter  2. 


90     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


conduct  may  be  ensured.  Now  we  must  give  our 
attention  to  the  fact  that  Confucianism  has  as- 
signed to  wisdom  a  place  of  honour.  The  doctrine 
/of  suppression  of  wisdom,  which  seems  to  have 
been  a  part  of  the  great  Taoist  principle  of  "empti- 
ness*' or  "  dispassion, "  was  rejected  by  the  school 
of  the  great  sage;  never  did  this  school  subscribe 
to  the  doctrine  that  the  poor  in  mind  are  the 
blessed,  and  that  the  realm  of  perfection  and 
divinity  is  theirs. 

The  greatest  impulse  to  this  dissent  was  given 
by  the  grandson  of  Confucius,  who,  as  we  have 
seen  (page  35),  began  his  classic  work  with  the 
affirmation  that  cultivation  of  the  Tao  is  synony- 
mous with  instruction.  The  principle,  *' virtue 
by  instruction,*'  has  developed  Confucianism  into 
a  "system  or  religion  of  the  learned"  (Yti  kiao)^ 
to  which  China  owes  its  Hterary  civilisation. 
This  civilisation  has,  accordingly — be  it  stated 
with  emphasis — ^its  root  in  the  great  system  of 
Universism. 

Instruction  or  literary  education,  naturally 
combined  with  study,  has  thus  always  been  declared 
by  Taoistic  Confucianism  to  be  a  matter  of  prime 
necessity.     The    means    of    instruction    are    the 


Perfection,  Holiness,  or  Divinity       91 


Classics,  the  only  reliable  canons  or  bibles  of  the 
Tao  of  Man  (cf.  page  40).  Since  the  formation 
of  the  Confucian  system,  under  the  Han  dynasty, 
they  always  have,  by  unanimous  judgment  of  all 
sages,  been  acknowledged  as  the  one  orthodox 
gospel  for  the  lives  and  actions  of  the  whole  of 
humanity,  as  the  foundation  stones  of  the  State 
and  society,  through  which  the  Tao  receives  its 
fullest  due,  renders  government  as  stable  as  the 
Universe  itself,  and  makes  mankind  thoroughly 
prosperous  and  happy. 

With  these  classical  or  canonical  books  the  name 
of  Confucius  (who  lived  B.C.  551-479)  is  insepar- 
ably associated.  Five  are  called  king;  the  others 
are  so-called  shu.  Certainly  Confucius  did  not 
write  them  all ;  they  belong  partly  to  a  much  older, 
partly  to  a  later  period.  He  is  held  to  have 
written  merely  one  king,  the  Ch'un-ts'iu.  Three 
other  kings,  called  the  Shu  or  History,  the  Shi 
or  Songs,  and  the  Yih  or  Mutations,  he  merely 
compiled  or  edited;  and  even  this  may  not  be 
true.  In  the  many  books  which  constitute  the 
fifth  king,  entitled  Li  ki  or  Memorials  on  Laws  and 
Rites  of  Social  Life,  he  and  his  disciples  are  men- 
tioned  very   frequently;    this  Classic,   therefore, 


92     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


appears  to  have  been  composed  in  the  main  from 
information  about  him,  and  from  sayings  originat- 
ing with  him.  The  four  shu  originated  almost, 
entirely  with  his  disciples;  they  contain  sayings, 
doctrines,  and  conversations  of  the  master,  mostly 
of  an  ethical  and  political  character.  Their  titles 
are  Lun  yil,  Discourses  and  Conversations; 
Chung  yungt  Doctrine  of  the  Mean;  T'ai  hioh, 
Comprehensive  Study;  and  Meng-tsze,  (Works  of) 
Mencius.  We  may  thus  equally  well  call  Con- 
fucianism Classicism,  Universism,  or  Taoism.  It 
alone  is  orthodox,  since  there  is  only  one  Tao  in 
the  Universe,  and  one  set  of  Classics  to  maintain 
it  among  men.  Confucianism  has  reigned  supreme 
in  China  to  this  hour.  Thus  it  is  that  the  whole 
Chinese  system  of  education  by  classical  study, 
from  the  lower  schools,  where  the  Classics  are 
primers,  up  to  the  state-examinations  and  the 
appointments  to  state  service  of  those  who  pass, 
virtually  stand  on  the  broad  Taoist  basis,  as  does 
the  state  machinery  in  general. 

The  emperor,  since  he  is  the  supreme  guide  of 
the  nation  in  the  Tao,  must  possess  in  a  pre- 
eminent degree  the  teh  or  virtue  which  the  Tao 
of  the  Universe  bestows,  in  order  that  by  reigning 


; 


Perfection,  Holiness,  or  Divinity       93 


well  he  may  convert  it  into  blessings  for  this  world 
of  men.  He  must,  of  course,  cultivate  and  develop 
it  by  study;  he  must,  in  fact,  be  the  most  learned 
man  in  the  world,  and  at  the  same  time  the  superior 
instructor.  The  same  must  be  the  case  with  his 
ministers  and  officers ;  they  all,  for  the  same  reason, 
ought  to  be  paragons  of  the  learned  class,  the 
highest  laureates  of  the  state-examinations, 
thoroughly  versed  in  the  Classics,  imbued  with  the 
doctrines  and  principles  of  those  books — in  short, 
the  sagest  and  most  virtuous  among  men.  Unless 
they  possess  the  Tao  and  its  virtues  or  blessings 
for  themselves,  they  cannot  guide  others  in  that 
Way,  and  thus  ensure  stability  to  their  rule,  and 
to  the  throne.  Confucius  himself,  according  to 
the  Lun-yu,  said: 

"By  keeping  the  people  in  the  Tao  by  means 
of  their  virtue,  and  organising  it  by  means  of 
the  laws  and  rites  of  social  life  (li)  rulers  cause 
it  to  be  modest,  and  to  behave  in  accordance 
with  rule  and  order."' 

Another  Classic,  the  T'ai  hioh,  the  short  text 
^  Book  2,  §  3. 


94     Development  of  Religion  in  China 


of  which  is  ascribed  to  Confucius  himself,  deals 
exclusively  with  the  duty  of  rulers  to  develop 
their  virtue  and  wisdom  by  means  of  study.  That 
text  runs  as  follows : 

"The  Tao,  acquired  by  comprehensive  study, 
consists  in  the  manifestation  of  beneficent  virtue 
{teh),  which  is  the  fruit  of  enlightenment ;  further, 
it  consists  in  the  renovation  of  the  people  (by 
means  of  that  virtue),  and  in  the  people's  abid- 
ing (as  a  consequence  of  that  renovation)  in  the 
condition  of  the  greatest  natural  goodness  (shen). 
When  mankind  knows  itself  to  be  in  that  con- 
dition, it  will  be  settled,  and  being  settled,  it 
can  become  quiet;  being  quiet,  it  can  enjoy  re- 
pose; being  in  repose,  it  is  able  to  meditate,  and 
being  able  to  meditate,  it  may  attain  desired 
ends." 

In  this  dictum  we  recognise  the  conception  of 
Taoist  quiescence  leading  to  power;  this  quietism 
is  represented  as  a  fruit  of  the  goodness  which  is 
bestowed  by  the  Universe  on  Man,  and  spon- 
taneously developed  among  the  whole  people  by 
the  influence  of  the  virtue  which  the  ruler)  of  the 


Perfection,  Holiness,  or  Divinity       95 


state  acquires  by  comprehensive  study.  In  the 
light  of  the  Universistic  system,  the  dictum  be- 
comes intelligible.  The  whole  Tao  of  Man,  thus 
Confucius  goes  on  to  say,  is  represented  by  it: 

"Things  have  a  root  and  a  top,  an  end  and  a 
starting-point;  he  who  knows  how  to  practise 
the  premise  and  conclusions  (of  the  dictum)  is 
near  the  Tao. 

"The  ancients,  who  wished  to  manifest  bene- 
ficent virtue  created  by  enlightenment,  first  of 
all  ruled  the  State  (with  that  virtue).  But  in 
order  to  rule  the  State,  they  first  regulated  (by 
means  of  the  same  virtue)  their  f amiHes ;  and  in 
order  to  rule  their  families,  they  previously 
cultivated  themselves, — to  this  end  rectifying 
their  hearts.  In  order  to  rectify  their  hearts, 
they  first  sought  to  be  sincere  in  will;  and  to  ac- 
quire this  sincerity  of  will,  they  developed  their 
knowledge  to  the  utmost.  Such  development  of 
their  knowledge  consisted  in  the  investigauon  of 
things." 

The  gist  of  all  this  is  that  study  is  the  source  of 
wisdom  and  excellence  of  the  Ruler.     Such  excel- 


96      Development  of  Religion  in  China 


lence  naturally  involves  a  perfect  organisation  of 
his  house  or  dynasty,  and,  the  organisation  being 
perfect,  must  bring  about  a  wise  government, 
producing  happiness  and  contentment  among  the 
people. 

Literary  education,  rigorously  classical,  has, 
accordingly,  in  all  ages,  been  given  in  China  sys- 
tematically to  heirs-apparent  and  youthful  em- 
perors. Among  the  emperors  there  are  not  a  few 
whose  literary  attainments  were  very  high.  Many 
have  furthered  study  by  the  appointment  of 
commissions  of  scholars  for  the  critical  editing 
and  publication  of  classical,  historical,  and  other 
standard  works,  voluminous  works  having  been 
produced  in  this  way,  which  represent  the  highest 
point  that  Chinese  scholarship  has  reached.  Of 
the  emperors  of  the  present  dynasty,  the  names 
Khanghi  and  Khienlung  here  stand  pre-eminent. 
The  largest  work  which  exists  in  this  world,  the 
Ku  kin  t  'w  shu  tsih  ch  'ing,  or  Complete  Collection 
of  Illustrations  and  Literature,  ancient  and  modern, 
brought  out  under  Imperial  auspices  in  1725, 
and  containing  nearly  the  whole  wisdom  and 
science  of  China  in  systematic  arrangedient,  is 
the  strongest  testimony  to  such  imperial  enter- 


Perfection,  Holiness,  or  Divinity       97 


prise,  answering  as  perfectly  as  possible  to  the  holy 
order,  given  to  rulers  of  mankind  by  Confucius  in 
the  T  'ai  hioh,  (seep.  96),  that  they  shall  "develop 
their  knowledge  to  the  utmost,"  and  develop  that 
of  their  ministers  and  officers  at  the  same  time, 
in  order  to  ensure  a  perfect  Universistic  rule. 

Since  it  is  a  law  of  the  Universe  itself,  promul- 
gated by  the  Classics,  that  the  ruler  shall  excel  in 
Tao  or  natural  virtue,  which  is  developed  by 
learning,  it  is  a  natural  law  also  that,  conversely, 
any  emperor  who  has  no  virtue  must,  in  conse- 
quence of  his  misrule,  inevitably  lose  the  protec- 
tion of  the  Tao  of  Heaven,  and,  therewith,  his 
throne.  This  dogma  is  emphatically  preached 
by  the  Classics.     We  read  in  the  Shu  king  that, 

"because  the  hidden  virtue  of  Shun  became 
known  on  high,  he  was  appointed  there  to 
occupy  the  throne.  He  carefully  displayed 
the  five  canonical  duties,  and  these  were  ac- 
cordingly observed  universally."* 

Confucius  said  of  him: 

"His  virtue  was  that  of  a  Saint  and  there- 
fore   his    dignity   became    that   of   a   Son  of 

^  TheBook  Shun  tien. 
7 


98      Development  of  Religion  in  China 


Heaven.  .  .  .  Having  such  great  virtue,  it 
could  not  but  be  that  he  should  obtain  the 
throne,  the  riches  which  were  his,  his  fame, 
his  long  life.  .  .  .  Therefore,  he  who  is  most 
'Virtuous  will  be  sure  to  receive  the  appointment 
of  Heaven."' 

The  great  Yu  likewise,  according  to  the  Shu 
king,  obtained  and  kept  his  throne  on  account  of 
his  virtue,  and  thus  foimded  the  Hia  dynasty  in 
the  twenty-third  century  B.C.  His  minister  Yih 
said  to  him: 

"Thy  virtue,  O  emperor,  is  vast,  and  every- 
where operative;  it  is  that  of  a  saint  and  a  god; 
it  extends  to  military  and  civil  affairs.  Im- 
perial Heaven,  who  observed  it,  bestowed  on 
thee  the  imperial  appointment,  so  that  thou  ob- 
tainedst  the  entire  ownership  of  all  that  exists 
between  the  four  Oceans,  and  becamest  the 
ruler  of  all  who  live  under  the  sl^y.  ...  It 
was  thy  virtue  that  moved  Heaven ;  there  is  no 
point,  however  distant,  unto  which  it  does  not 
reach. "^ 

*  Chung  yung,  XVII.  » The  book  Ta  Yii  mu. 


Perfection,  Holiness,  or  Divinity       99 


And  T  'ai-kiah,  the  successor  of  the  founder  of 
the  Shang  dynasty,  was  (in  1753  B.C.)  addressed 
by  I-yin,  his  eminent  minister  and  mentor,  in  the 
following  terms: 

"The  throne,  conferred  by  Heaven,  is  a  seat 
of  hardship.  If  you  have  virtue,  nothing  but 
good  government  will  prevail;  but  if  you  have 
none,  disorder  and  rebellion  will  be  rife.  Com- 
bine your  rule  with  Tao,  and  in  all  respects  you 
must    prosper. ' 

If  an  emperor's  virtues  are  constant,  they 
protect  his  throne ;  if  they  are  tmstable,  he  loses 
his  nine  possessions  (provinces).  When  the 
sovereigns  of  the  Hia  dynasty  were  no  longer 
able  to  practise  virtue,  they  offended  the  gods 
and  oppressed  the  people.  Therefore  Imperial 
Heaven  no  longer  protected  them,  and  its  eye 
wandered  over  the  myriads  of  regions,  to  see 
whether  there  existed  any  person  to  whom 
it  might  tender  the  appointment;  with  a  look 
of  affection  it  sought  a  man  of  virtue  of  the 
first  order,  to  make  him  chief  of  the  gods. 
None  but  myself  and  (your  father)  T  *ang  pos- 
^ThehookT'ai-kiah,llI. 


100   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


sessed  such  first-rate  virtue,  and  could  therefore 
obtain  the  enjoyment  of  Heaven's  favour ;  so  it 
was  he  who  received  the  glorious  appointment 
from  Heaven,  became  the  owner  of  the  people 
in  the  nine  possessions,  and  was  able  to  change 
the  calendar  of  the  Hia  dynasty.  It  was  not 
that  Heaven  had  any  partiality  for  our  Shang 
dynasty;  it  simply  sided  with  the  man  who 
possessed  virtue  of  the  first  order.  Nor  was 
it  that  Shang  sought  the  allegiance  of  the 
lower  people;  the  people  simply  turned  to  the 
man  of  highest  virtue.  So  if  your  virtue  is 
of  the  first  order,  none  of  your  actions  will  be 
unsuccessful;  but  if  it  is  of  the  second  or 
third  order,  all  your  acts  will  produce  mis- 
fortune. Happiness  and  misfortune  are  not 
unreasonably  forced  upon  men;  but  Heaven 
sends  down  misfortune  or  happiness  accord- 
ing to  the  state  of  their  virtue. 

*'Now,  royal  heir,  you  have  humbly  ac- 
cepted this  appointment — renew  your  virtue. 
Have  this  as  your  one  object  from  the  be- 
ginning to  the  end,  and  in  this  wise  make  a 
daily  renovation;  then  the  officers  in  charge 
will  all  be  men  of  eminent  virtue  and  ability. 


Perfection,  Holiness,  or  Divinity      loi 


and  those  standing  on  the  right  and  on  the 
left  of  your  throne  will  likewise  be  men  of 
that  sort;  the  ministers  will,  in  relation  to 
what  is  above  them,  live  for  the  virtuous 
sovereign,  and  in  relation  to  what  is  below 
them,  they  will  live  for  the  people.  "' 

These  paragraphs,  which,  as  classical,  have 
always  been  holy  gospel  for  emperors,  assume  that, 
as  the  Tao  of  Heaven  bestows  its  blessings  spon- 
taneously, so  the  blessings  resulting  from  the  virtue 
of  the  emperor  are  shed  abroad  spontaneously. 
Indeed,  Shun  was  stated  by  Confucius  to  have 
ruled  most  firmly  and  beneficently  by  merely 
making  himself  venerable,  and  then  sitting  on  his 
throne  in  inaction  or  wuwei  (cf.  p.  71).  Wu  wet, 
accordingly,  is  a  natural  appendage  to  virtue,  and 
so  is  the  power  or  the  almightiness  which,  as  we 
have  seen,  is  the  natural  fruit  of  wu  wet.  We 
can  now  imderstand  Confucius  when  he  says : 

"He  who  administers  government  by  means 
of  his  virtue  may  be  compared  to  the  north 
polar    star,    which    immovably    occupies    its 

'  The  book  Hien  yiu  yih  teh. 


102    Development  of  Religion  in  China 

place,    and    all   the    stars   move   respectfully 
around  it.  "^ 


Since  virtue  is  the  fruit  of  classical  or  orthodox 
study,  such  study  practically  occupies,  in  the 
system  of  morality  and  politics,  the  place  of  virtue; 
that  is  to  say,  whoever  is  classically  wise  is  virtuous 
in  the  bargain.  Or,  we  may  say  that  orthodox 
wisdom  and  virtue  coalesce.  He  who  is  very  wise 
and  virtuous  is,  according  to  the  Classics  and  the 
non-classical  ancient  books,  hien,  and  is  styled  a 
kiiin  tsze,  "  princely^gerspn. "  And  the  highest  de- 
gree of  virtue  and  wisdom  (cf.  p.  8i)  is  denoted  by 
the  words  chen  and  ch'tng,  which  mean  "reality, " 
as  also  by  the  word  shing,  and  the  man  eminent 
by  such  perfection  is  the  possessor  of  holiness  or 
divinity.  Holy  men  were,  of  course,  in  the  first 
place  those  who  founded  the  Tao  of  Man  on 
Earth,  namely  the  first  emperors  who  are  men- 
tioned in  what  is  thought  to  be  history — ^Fuh-hi, 
Shen-nung,  Hwang-ti,  Yao,  and  Shun,  as  also  Yu 
the  Great,  who  founded  the  Hia  dynasty;  indeed 
they  would  not  have  received  the  throne  and 
empire  from  Heaven  but  for  their  perfection  in 

*  Lunyii,  lit  I. 


Perfection,  Holiness,  or  Divinity      103 


virtue.  For  the  same  reason,  this  qualification 
was  possessed  by  T*ang,  who  founded  the  Shang 
dynasty  (i8th  century  B.C.),  and  by  We  and  Wu, 
who,  likewise  by  the  grace  of  Heaven,  founded  the 
house  of  Cheu  in  the  twelfth  centiny  B.C.  And 
I-yin,  T*ang's  mentor,  who,  according  to  his  own 
assertion  (p.  99),  recorded  in  the  Shu  king,  possessed 
the  highest  amount  of  virtue,  is  a  saint.  It  is  un- 
necessary to  say  that  among  all  the  divine  saints 
of  the  Tao,  Confucius  occupies  the  highest  place. 
Was  not  he  the  man  who,  either  himself  or  by  his 
school,  preserved  for  all  generations  the  Classics, 
precious  bibles  of  "virtue  by  wisdom, "  from  which, 
moreover,  the  examples  and  teachings  of  all  other 
holy  men  of  antiquity  may  be  learned  ?  It  is,  more- 
over, emphatically  stated  in  the  Classics  them- 
selves, by  three  disciples  of  his,  that  he  was  holy. 

"Master,"  said  Tsze-kung,  "thou  studiest 
without  satiety;  this  shows  thy  wisdom;  and 
thou  teachest  without  ever  being  tired,  which 
shows  thy  benevolence;  wise  and  benevolent — 
Master,  thou  art  already  a  saint!"  .... 

And  Yiu-yoh  said  that 

"  a  saint  stands  out  from  his  fellow-men  like  a 


I04   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


stalk  of  grass  that  stands  high  above  the  level 
of  the  waving  field;  but  from  the  birth  of 
mankind  till  now  there  never  has  existed  one 
so  complete  as  Confucius. "' 

Tsze-sze,  in  his  grandiloquent  eulogy  of  the 
Sage  in  the  Chung  yiing,  calls  him  the  chi  shing 
or  " saint  in  the  highest  degree";^  and  this  epithet 
has  remained  his  most  common  title  to  this  day. 

Mencius,  who  has  endowed  the  world  with  a 
voluminous  classical  book,  full  of  instruction  and 
wisdom  of  the  ancients,  stands  next  to  Confucius 
in  the  scale  of  holiness,  and  is  therefore  called 
Ya  shing,  "the  second  saint. "  Saints  also  are  the 
three  greatest  disciples  of  Confucius,  Yen  Hwui, 
Tseng-tszS,  and  his  grandson,  Khung  Kih  or  Tsze- 
sze,  reputed  author  of  the  Chung  yung.  The 
other  disciples  are  either  kiun-tsze,  "princely  or 
eminent  persons,*'  or  ju,  "scholars." 

In  ancient  books  the  term  shing,  or  "saint,"  so 
often  denotes  the  supreme  rulers  of  states  that 
we  are  compelled  to  admit  that  "holy"  was  an 
epithet  of  emperors  generally.     China  itself  has 

» The  works  of  Mencius,  the  book  Kung-sunCh'en,  1, 2. 
"Appendix,  168. 


Perfection,  Holiness,  or  Divinity      105 


always  taken  this  for  granted;  indeed,  does  not 
the  fact  that  Heaven  tolerates  and  maintains  a 
sovereign  on  the  throne  prove  that  it  deems  him 
to  be  wise  and  virtuous  in  the  highest  degree? 
*'The  Son  of  Heaven,"  thus  we  read  in  the  works 
of  Kwan-tsze,  "is  a  saint.  "^  And  in  the  writings 
of  Hoh  Kwan-tsze  we  have  this  statement:  "The 
man  endowed  with  the  highest  degree  of  eminent 
virtue  {hien)  is  the  Son  of  Heaven,  and  those 
next  to  him  in  such  virtue  are  the  three  highest 
ministers."^ 

Up  to  the  present  time  Heaven  always  has  had 
a  saint  in  Peking,  seated  on  the  throne,  to  convert 
the  Tao  of  Heaven  into  a  Tao  of  Man  by  means 
of  a  government  supremely  learned  and  sage,  and 
by  means  of  his  private  conduct  and  example, 
and  continual  promulgation  of  his  will.  His 
dispositions  are  called  shing  chi  or  "holy  disposi- 
tions," his  decrees  shing  yu  or  "holy  decrees." 

The  holy  or  perfect  man  has,  of  course,  a  perfect 
shen  or  soul,  that  is  to  say  this  soul  is  at  least  as 
excellent  as  the  shen  or  gods  of  which  the  Yang  of 
the  Universe  is  composed;  in  other  words,  he  is  a 
god  himself. 

»  Book  18,  or  Chapter  57.  a  Chapter  i  o. 


io6    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


This  Taoist  principle  is  also  a  Confucian  dogma, 
explicit^  expressed  in  the  Classics.  Mencius 
declared  that  "When  a  man  is  so  holy  as  to  be 
beyond  comprehension,  he  is  a  god."'  His 
divinity  and  other  attributes  are  the  special  topic 
of  the  Chung  yung. 

''Holiness  (reality)  is  the  Tao  of  Heaven, 
and  the  acquisition  of  holiness  is  the  Tao 
of  Man.  Holiness  is  reached  without  exer- 
tion, and  gained  without  intention;  he  who 
thus  naturally  and  smoothly  attains  the  Tao 
is  a  saint.  The  acquisition  of  holiness  con- 
sists in  choosing  what  is  naturally  good  {shen) 
and  firmly  holding  it ;  to  this  end  an  extensive 
study  of  it  should  be  made,  an  accurate 
examination  and  inquiry,  with  careful  reflec- 
tion, clear  discrimination  and  earnest  practice. 

"It  is  only  the  highest  saint  who  can  trans- 
form others  by  means  of  his  holiness.  His 
superior  holiness  consists  of  a  Tao  which 
enables  him  to  foreknow.  When  a  dynasty 
is  about  to  rise  and  flourish,  there  are  good 
omens,  and  when  a  dynasty  is  about  to  perish, 

'  Book  Tsin  sin,  II. 


Perfection,  Holiness,  or  Divinity      107 


spectral  evil  appears;  such  things  may  be  dis- 
covered by  divination  through  the  milfoil  or 
the  tortoise,  or  by  sensations  in  the  four 
limbs;  but  when  such  calamitous  or  felicitous 
events  are  imminent,  the  saint  will  surely 
foreknow  the  good  as  well  as  the  evil  (which 
they  will  produce).  The  highest  saint  is  like 
a  god. 

*'The  saint  is  self -perfected,  and  the  (uni- 
versal) Tao  is  his  own  Tao.  ...  He  does 
not  merely  perfect  himself,  but  also  uses  his 
holiness  for  the  perfection  of  other  beings. 
His  self-perfection  is  the  source  of  his  bene- 
volence, his  perfecting  of  others  constitutes 
his  wisdom;  and  these  two  qualities  are  parts 
of  his  natural  moral  constitution  (sing).  He, 
accordingly,  has  a  Tao  which  at  the  same  time 
works  outwardly  upon  others,  and  inwardly 
upon  himself."' 

If  we  consider  this  Confucian  classical  page  in 
the  light  of  Taoism,  under  the  inspiration  of 
which  it  was  written,  we  perceive  that  it  is  an 
accurate  description  of  the  Taoist  ideal  man  and 

'  Chapters  20, 24,  and  25. 


io8    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


sovereign,  who  has  fully  conformed  his  own  Tao 
or  conduct  to  that  of  the  Universe,  either  by 
inaction  and  mental  inertia,  or  by  thorough 
study,  and  who  uses  his  Tao  to  transform 
others  into  virtuous  men.  Such  a  saint  is  a 
seer  of  the  future,  being  able  to  fathom  the  Tao 
of  the  Universe,  of  which  he  is  a  divine  part, 
a  god.  Our  apostle  of  Confucianism  then  extols 
the  holy  ruler's  miraculous  divine  power  in  these 
words: 

"Being  in  this  state,  he  may  remain  in- 
visible, and  yet  manifest  his  influence  j  he 
may  produce  the  transformation  of  others 
even  without  any  active  motion,  and  accom- 
plish his  ends  by  doing  nothing.  ...  So 
great  is  the  Tao  of  the  holy  Man !  Is  it  not  an 
ocean  of  oceans?  It  produces  and  nourishes 
the  myriads  of  beings;  like  a  mountain  it 
raises  its  top  up  to  the  heavens.  Immense  is 
its  greatness.  It  embraces  the  three  hundred 
laws  and  rites  of  social  life,  and  th6  three 
thousand  rules  of  conduct.  .  .  .  Therefore, 
the  'princely  man'  sets  so  great  value  on 
making  his  natural  character   (sing)  virtuous, 


Perfection,  Holiness,  or  Divinity      109 


that    he    moves   in  the  Tao  of   inquiry  and 
study.  "^ 

The  books  for  tne  study  and  cultivation  of  the 
wisdom  and  virtue  that  lead  to  holiness  are  the 
Classics,  and  we  now  know  why  a  very  high  place 
is  occupied  among  them  by  the  Chung  yung,  and 
why  its  author  has  a  place  among  the  foiu*  saints 
of  the  Confucian  school  (see  p.  103).  The  book 
undertakes  to  point  out  the  discipline  which  leads 
to  self-perfection ;  but  instead  of  giving  a  system 
of  moral  principles  and  duties,  to  be  made  effec- 
tive by  instruction,  it  dismisses  us  with  a  single 
prescription,  namely,  that  the  passions  must  rest, 
in  order  to  produce  a  condition  called  chung. 
This  term  is  generally  translated  by  ''the  mean," 
and  explained  to  be  a  state  of  equilibriuny^  but 
we  easily  recognise  in  it  the  chung  of  the  Tao  teh 
king  and  other  Taoist  works,  that  is  to  say, 
* '  emptiness  "or  *  *  dispassion ' '  (see  p.  55) .  Further, 
according  to  the  same  Classic,  whenever  the  pas- 
sions are  aroused,  they  must  be  controlled,  in 
order  to  produce  a  state  of  harmony  which  is 
called  hwo;  chung  and  hwOy  when  they  prevail  in  a 

'  Chapters  26  and  27. 


no   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


perfect  state,  insure  order  and  blessing  throughout 
the  Universe.  We  thus  see  that  the  ethical  system 
of  Confucianism  has  not  diverged  from  the  Taoist ; 
it  has  not  created  a  higher  ethical  scheme.  A 
method  of  disciplining  the  passions  is  not  given 
by  the  Chung  yung.  But  we  find  a  method 
mentioned  in  another  Classic,  the  Li  yun,  by 
Confucius  himself.  As  we  have  seen  on  page  36, 
this  sage  stated  that  the  ancient  sovereigns  effected 
the  discipline  among  the  people  by  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  li,  the  third  and  principal  cardinal 
virtue,  which  embraces  observance  of  all  the  duties 
imposed  b}^  the  rules  for  human  life,  religious, 
social,  ethical.  The  strictest  observance  of  these 
li  throughout  the  empire  under  the  auspices  of 
the  government  has  thus  been  proclaimed  to  be 
a  holy  law  to  remain  in  force  forever.  The  spe- 
cial Li  pUy  or  "Department  of  the  /i,*'  which 
has  always  been  regarded  as  one  of  the  most 
important  institutions  of  the  State,  is  to-day 
considered  to  be  the  principal  of  the  six  Minis- 
terial Boards.  Like  the  li  themselves,  th^s  De- 
partment is  an  institution  of  the  great  system  of 
Universism. 

In  that  same  Li  yun  we  read  that  the  passions 


Perfection,  Holiness,  or  Divinity      iii 


may  be  regulated  also  by  the  cultivation  of  various 
virtues. 

''What  are  the  human  passions?  They  are 
joy,  anger,  sorrow,  fear,  liking,  disliking, 
and  desire.  They  exercise  their  power  in 
Man  without  cultivation.  What  is  human 
righteousness?  It  is  affection  on  the  part  of 
the  father,  submission  and  devotion  {hiao) 
on  the  part  of  the  son;  it  is  gentleness  on  the 
part  of  the  elder  brother,  brotherly  submission 
on  the  part  of  the  younger;  it  is  righteousness  on 
the  part  of  the  husband,  and  obedience  on  the 
part  of  the  wife;  it  is  kindness  on  the  part  of 
the  seniors  in  the  family,  and  compliance  on  the 
part  of  the  juniors;  it  is  benevolence  on 
the  part  of  rulers,  and  loyalty  on  the  part 
of  their  ministers; — these  ten  virtues  consti- 
tute man's  righteousness.  .  .  .  The  holy  man 
governs  the  seven  human  passions  by  culti- 
vating the  ten  virtues  which  constitute 
righteousness,  by  preaching  trustfulness,  by 
cultivating  harmony,  by  honouring  affection  and 
complaisant  courtesy,  and  by  doing  away  with 
quarrels  and  plundering.     If,  however,  he  dis- 


112    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


regards   the    li,    wherewith    will    he    rule    the 
passions?"' 

Finally,  another  book  of  the  Li  ki,  entitled 
Yoh  ki  or  Book  on  Music,  states  that  the  passions 
should  be  restrained  by  means  of  music. 

"The  ancient  sovereigns  regulated  the  li  and 
music,  in  order  that  man  might  thereby  restrain 
his  passions.  .  .  .  They  thereby  taught  the 
people  to  moderate  their  likes  and  dislikes,  and 
thus  brought  them  back  under  the  direction  of 
the  Taoof  Man."^ 

The  ruling  emperor,  being  a  saint,  is  a  god,  his 
government  a  divine  government.  He  is  even 
more  than  an  ordinary  god,  for  it  is  explicitly 
stated  in  the  Shu  king  that,  according  to  the  holy 
I-yin  himself,  when  Heaven  had  resolved  to  destroy 
the  Hia  dynasty  because  of  the  vices  of  its  rulers, 
"it  affectionately  sought  an  all-virtuous  man,  to 
make  him  chief  of  the  gods"  (cf.  p.  99).  The 
emperor,  accordingly,  is  considered  to  this  hour 
by  orthodox  Confucianism  to  be  above  the  gods. 

*  Chapter  2.  '  Book  Yoh  ki,  i. 


Perfection,  Holiness,  or  Divinity     113 


Only  two  gods  can  stand  above  him,  namely, 
Heaven,  his  father,  and  Earth,  his  mother,  from 
whose  union  he,  like  every  being,  was  bom. 

In  accordance  with  this  doctrine,  it  is  the 
emperor  who  decides  which  gods  are  entitled  to 
receive  man's  worship.  It  is  he  who  confers  ranks 
and  titles  upon  them,  promotes  or  degrades  them, 
or  even  entirely  divests  them  of  their  divinity. 
Their  worship  can  be  suppressed  at  his  pleasure, 
and  he  need  not  fear  their  vengeance,  indeed  the 
power  of  any  mighty  god  is  as  naught  compared 
with  that  of  the  august  Heaven  by  whose  absolute 
will  and  patronage  the  Son  reigns  supreme  over 
everything  which  exists  below  the  sky,  unless  he 
forfeit  Heaven's  almighty  protection  by  neglect 
of  his  imperial  duties.  China's  chronicles  of  all 
ages  are  full  of  instances  of  mandarins  who,  as 
bearers  of  the  power  of  the  emperor,  destroyed 
heretical  sacrifices  {yin  sze),  breaking  the  images, 
demolishing  the  temples,  and  even  having  the 
priests  beaten  with  sticks.  We  read  of  emperors 
prescribing  such  measures  in  their  capitals.  Occur- 
rences of  this  kind  are  recorded  often  enough  to 
justify  the  conclusion  that  they  must  have  been 
far  from  rare  in  the  course  of  centuries. 


114   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


The  emperor  is,  on  account  of  his  divinity,  an 
object  of  worship.  In  the  chief  city  of  each  prov- 
ince, department,  and  district,  there  is  an  official 
building  with  an  altar  bearing  a  tablet  with  this 
inscription:  "The  emperor,  may  he  live  ten 
thousand  years,  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand 
years.  **  Dragons,  the  emblem  of  imperial  dignity, 
are  carved  in  the  wood  around  the  inscription. 
On  his  birthday  and  on  New  Year's  day,  as  also 
on  the  day  of  the  winter  solstice,  he  is  worshipped 
on  the  spot  by  all  the  mandarins  of  the  place 
conjointly,  with  great  solemnity,  at  a  very  early 
hour  in  the  morning.  Any  intelligent  Chinaman 
will  tell  you  that  this  worship  does  not  differ  from 
that  paid  to  gods. 

Any  Son  of  Heaven  must  be  the  very  embodiment 
of  the  Celestial  Tao,  just  as  an  eldest  son  in  the  or- 
dinaryJif e  is  the  embodiment  and  continuator  of  the 
spirit  and  will  of  his  father.  The  title,  "  Son  of  the 
Heaven,"  which  has  been  borne  by' the  highest 
sovereign  ever  since  the  classical  age,  thus  has  its 
natural  explanation  in  the  system  of  Universism. 
It  implies  more  than  that  he  reigns  by  the  grace  of 
Heaven : — he  reigns  by  Heaven's  absolute  will. 

We  can  understand  without  difficulty  the  rest 


Perfection,  Holiness,  or  Divinity      115 


of  this  religio-political  dogma.  If  the  emperor 
properly  performs  his  Taoist  duty  by  imitating  the 
Tao  and  conforming  to  it,  and  by  his  virtue,  thus 
obtained,  fosters  good  government,  and  at  the 
same  time  secures  for  his  people  the  happiness  that 
good  government  naturally  brings,  then  he  is 
almighty,  like  the  Tao  itself,  enthroned  as  a  mate 
of  Heaven,  high  above  his  ministers  and  people. 
He  is  then  the  medium  between  the  Tao  of  Heaven 
and  the  blessings  which  it  bestows. 

"The  Tao,"  wrote  Kwan-tszS,  "is  that  by 
which  the  highest  man  guides  the  people. 
Hence,  the  virtues  and  blessings  {teh)  of  the  Tao 
of  the  Universe  issue  through  the  ruler;  his 
measures  and  orders  (based  on  the  Tao)  he 
transmits  to  his  ministers,  through  whom  the 
officers  have  their  tasks  imposed  on  them;  and 
the  task  of  the  people  then  consists  in  doing 
their  work  with  due  regard  to  their  orders  .  .  . 
A  ruler  who  has  Tao  keeps  his  virtues  in  the 
right  direction,  and  governs  his  people  by  means 
of  the  same,  without  even  mentioning  such  things 
as  wisdom,  power,  intelligence,  or  perspicacity.  ^ 

*  Book  10,  or  Chapter  30. 


Ii6   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


"He  who,  wishing  to  rule  the  world  under 
heaven,  loses  the  Tao  of  Heaven,  will  find  it 
impossible  to  rule  that  world ;  but  if  he  has  this 
Tao,  that  work  is  done  by  him  spontaneously. ' 

The  people  follow  him  who  has  the  Tao  as 
the  hungry  follow  the  food  which  they  see  be- 
fore them,  as  the  cold  follow  clothes,  and  the 
hot  the  shade.  To  him  who  has  the  Tao  the 
people  have  recourse;  but  he  who  has  no  Tao 
is  abandoned  by  the  people.  Therefore  I  say, 
to  him  from  whom  the  Tao  goes  away  no- 
body comes,  and  from  him  to  whom  the  Tao 
comes  nobody  goes  away.  "^ 

The  same  doctrine  is  expressed  in  the  Tao  teh 
king: 

"To  him  who  firmly  holds  the  superior  model 
[the  Tao],  the  whole  world  goes;  for  by  going 
to  him,  it  remains  beyond  the  reach  of  injury, 
and  enjoys  general  rest  and  peace.  ^ 

If  a  ruler  can  maintain  the  Tao,  all  beings 
will  spontaneously  visit  him  (to  offer  their 
subjection  and  tribute).  "^ 

»  Book  I,  or  Chapter  2.      » Book  20,  or  Chapter  64.       3  §  35. 
4§  32 


Perfection,  Holiness,  or  Divinity      117 


The  Shu  king  contains  exhortations,  based  on 
this  conception,  addressed  to  sovereigns  of  vari- 
ous periods.  Yu  the  Great  was  advised,  twenty- 
three  centuries  before  our  era,  by  his  minister, 
"never  to  act  against  the  Tao,  in  order  to  get  the 
praise  of  the  people."'  And  about  five  centuries 
later,  when  the  Hia  dynasty  had  lost  the  throne, 
T  'ang,  who  founded  a  new  one,  was  encouraged 
by  his  minister  with  a  speech  ending  thus: 
*' Revere  and  honour  the  Tao  of  Heaven,  and 
thou  wilt  for  all  time  ensure  (to  thyself  and  thy 
house)  the  appointment  of  Heaven. ' '  ^  About  1 323 
years  before  the  birth  of  Christ,  Wu  ting  was 
counselled  by  an  excellent  minister  in  these  terms  : 

"O  intelligent  Ruler,  reverently  act  in  accord- 
ance with  the  Tao  of  Heaven.  "^  Finally,  the 
great  Wu,  first  sovereign  of  the  Cheu  dynasty, 
was  exliorted  by  his  mentor:  "Let  thy  will  be  in 
peaceful  concord  with  the  Tao,  and  thy  word  or 
orders  in  accord  with  it."'* 

Good  and  stable  government,  accordingly,  is 
synonymous  with  the  supremacy  of  the  Tao  of 
Heaven  upon  this  earth.     In  the  Lun  yu  and  the 

'  Book  Ta  Yii  mu.  '  Book  Chung-hwui  kao. 

3  The  book  Yueh-ming,  II.  *  The  book  Lii  ngao. 


II 8   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


Chung  yung  we  find  such  government  denoted  by 
the  term  "Tao  in  the  State  or  Dynasty, "  and  bad 
government  by  "no  Tao  prevailing  in  it."  This 
Tao  being  concentrated  in  the  sovereign,  whose 
throne  cannot  possibly  stand  except  through  his 
possession  and  cultivation  of  it,  he  ought  in  the 
first  place  to  fructify  his  ministers  and  officers 
with  it,  as  heaven  fructifies  the  earth;  that  is  to 
say,  he  must  gwe.  them  instructions  and  orders 
based  on  the  Tao; — those  mandarins  then  must,  by 
their  ministration,  spread  abroad  the  blessings 
which  these  instructions  and  orders  produce,  as 
earth  dispenses  to  all  beings  the  products  of  the 
influence  that  heaven  infuses  into  it.  Then,  as 
certainly  as  all  men  do  placidly  sut^mit  to  the 
creating  and  nourishing  operation  of  heaven  and 
earth,  will  they  submit  to  the  officers  and  the  em- 
peror. This  is  an  immutable  principle  of  the 
Tao  of  Man,  as  immutable  as  the  fact  that  the 
Universe  consists  of  Heaven,  Earth,  and  living 
beings.  We  find  it  formulated  by  Kwan-tszS  in 
these  words:  "The  ruler  occupies  the  place  of 
Heaven,  the  ministers  that  of  the  Earth,  and  the 
people  represent  all  living  beings.*'" 

»  Bcx)k  15,  or  Chapter  45. 


Perfection,  Holiness,  or  Divinity      119 


These  doctrines  naturally  imply  the  absolute 
right  of  the  high  Imperial  representative  of  Heaven 
and  its  Tao  to  the  implicit  obedience  and  sub- 
mission of  his  ministers  and  of  all  who  live  on  this 
earth.  No  other  sovereign  can  exist  in  any  part 
of  the  world  but  as  his  subordinate  or  vassal;  even 
the  mightiest  potentates  in  Europe  and  America 
have  to  receive  his  orders,  and  to  obey  them 
implicitly.  If  they  do  not,  it  is  because  they  do 
not  know  the  Tao  of  the  Universe,  nor  that  of 
Man.  This  highest  principle  in  the  philosophy 
of  government  in  China  is  as  absolute  as  the 
authority  of  Heaven  in  the  Universe,  to  which  the 
Earth,  and  all  which  it  bears  and  produces,  ab- 
solutely submit. 

"Every  one,"  Kwan-tszS  taught,  "should 
stand  in  his  official  position  waiting  for  the  or- 
ders of  the  ruling  prince ;  how  could  any  minister 
or  unofficial  person  individually  concentrate  his 
mind  upon  the  formation  of  private  orders? 
Hence  it  is  that,  in  acting  in  obedience  to  the 
orders  of  the  ruler,  they  are  not  guilty  or  punish- 
able if  thereby  they  do  harm.  But  if  they  do 
something  which  is  not  ordained  by  the  ruler, 


120   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


they  deserve  the  penalty  of  death,  even  though 
they  have  thereby  done  something  meritorious 
or  useful  to  him.  Thus  the  inferior  people  serve 
the  superior  lord  as  an  echo  follows  sound,  and 
ministers  serve  the  ruler  as  a  shadow  follows 
the  object ;  thus  the  orders  of  the  superior  lord 
are  obeyed,  and  his  conduct  is  imitated  by  the 
ministers.     This  is  the  Tao  of  government."' 

This  imperial  absolutism  is  absolutism  in  the 
most  absolute  sense.  It  expresses  itself  to  this 
day  in  these  words,  that  "the  Son  of  Heaven  is 
owner  and  proprietor  of  all  which  exists  under  the 
heavens."  His  ministers  and  subjects  all  alike 
are  his  slaves ;  their  lives  and  wealth  are  his  prop- 
erty, and  may,  accordingly,  be  confiscated  by  him 
at  pleasure.  In  all  ages  the  people  have  been 
employed  by  thousands  and  millions  in  forced 
labour  for  the  construction  of  government  works, 
— palaces,  cities,  walls,  temples,  altars,  mausolea. 
To  this  hour  the  system  of  taxation  in  China  is 
in  the  main  a  system  of  exaction,  generally  called 
by  foreigners  "squeezing,"  but  less  generally 
understood   in   its   fundamental   Taoist  legality. 

»  Book  15,  or  Chapter  45. 


Perfection,  Holiness,  or  Divinity      121 


The  absoluteness  of  monarchism  also  has  to  do 
with  the  enormous  distance  which  in  all  times  has 
been  deemed  in  China  to  separate  the  emperor 
from  his  ministers,  a  distance  theoretically  as 
enormous  as  that  which  separates  the  heavens 
from  the  earth.  Whenever  ministers,  even  the 
highest,  appear  in  the  presence  of  the  emperor,  or 
whenever,  in  any  part  of  the  realm,  they  receive 
his  orders,  or  have  to  offer  congratulations  to  him, 
they  all,  just  like  the  meanest  subject,  are  bound  to 
perform  the  highest  act  of  worship  that  exists  in 
China,  and  which  is  worship  due  to  other  gods  also, 
namely,  three  prostrations  with  nine  khotows.  To 
relax  this  principle  is  to  lose  the  Tao.  The  dis- 
tance may,  of  course,  be  bridged  over  by  the 
permission  of  the  absolute  monarch  himself;  but 
the  principle  has  always  prevailed.  "  Keeping  dis- 
tance in  intercourse"  (between  the  ruler  and  his 
ministers  or  subjects),  thus  we  read  in  the  wri- 
tings of  Kwan,  "and  correctly  observing  their  sep- 
aration, is  natural  law;  and  compliance  with 
natural  law  and  not  falling  short  of  obedience  to 
it  is  Tao."' 

Thus  the  Chinese  Imperial  government  presents 

*  Book  I,  or  Chapter  30, 


122   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


itself  as  the  highest  institution  of  the  Tao  of  Man, 
and  as  the  creation  of  the  Order  of  the  World 
itself — as  an  instrument  tending  to  keep  the  human 
race,  by  means  of  sage  measures  and  laws,  in  the 
correct  Tao  or  Way  in  which  the  Universe  moves. 
We  see  it  erected  on  the  Confucian  Classics,  which 
are  considered  to  be  the  holy  books  of  Universism ; 
and  as  these  books  have  always  been  its  basis, 
from  the  period  when  the  empire  was  created  during 
the  Han  dynasty,  the  inference  is  that  the  Chinese 
Confucian  government  is  a  product  of  Universism. 


CHAPTER  IV 

HOLINESS  BY  MEANS  OF  ASCETICISM  AND  RETIRE- 
MENT.     PROLONGATION  OF  LIFE. 

A  STUDY  of  the  texts,  which  I  have  quotea  m 
**  the  two  preceding  chapters  from  the  ancient 
Classics  and  the  writings  of  the  early  patriarchs 
of  Taoism,  necessarily  leads  us  to  the  conclusion 
that  there  has  prevailed,  in  the  long  pre-Christian 
period  which  produced  those  books,  a  strong  lean- 
ing towards  stoicism  and  asceticism.  Perfection, 
holiness,  or  divinity  were,  indeed,  exclusively 
obtainable  by  *'dispassion,"  apathy,  willessness, 
unconcemedness  about  the  pleasures  and  pains 
of  life,  quietism,  or  wu-wei.  Does  not  this  savour 
of  retirement  from  human  life,  from  its  cares  and 
pleasures? 

On  one  of  the  many  pages  in  which  Chwang- 
tsz5  emphasises  the  necessity  of  cultivating  those 
Universistic  virtues,  by  means  of  which  Yao  and 
Shun  had   reached  holiness,   he   mentions  wise 

123 


124    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


doctors,  shi,  "who  sought  such  cultivation  by 
retirement  from  inhabited  places  to  live  and  roam 
by  the  rivers  and  seas,  in  hills  and  forests."*  On 
another  page  he  speaks  of  "men  who  enjoy  ease 
without  resorting  to  river -banks  and  seashores,"* 
which,  of  course,  suggests  that  there  were  men  who 
actually  did  resort  to  such  spots.  Taoist  recluses 
or  authorities,  accordingly,  existed  in  those  olden 
times;  but,  as  Chwang  himself  explicitly  declares, 
holiness  might  be  obtained  without  retirement, 
provided  the  Tao  were  truly  imitated  by  making 
no  active  display  of  one's  virtue  or  qualities,  per- 
sonality, and  wisdom: 

"The  Tao  makes  no  endeavour  to  stand  out 
above  mankind,  and  so  mankind  has  no  reason 
to  raise  itself  to  the  Tao  (by  active  effort). 
Holy  men  there  were,  who  did  not  abide  in 
hill-forests;  they  concealed  their  virtues,  and 
therefore  they  needed  not  to  conceal  themselves. 
Those  whom  the  ancients  called  'doctors  in 
concealment '  did  not  conceal  their  persons,  but 
neither  did  they  try  to  show  them;  they  did 
not  hold  back  their  words,  but  neither  were 
*  Book  5,  or  Chapter  13.  '  Book  6,  or  Chapter  15. 


Holiness  through  Asceticism         125 


they  eager  to  utter  them;  they  did  not  hide 
their  wisdom,  but  neither  did  they  make  a 
display  thereof."' 

Chwang  himself  led  the  secluded  life  which  he 
praised.  The  great  historian,  Sze-ma  Ts'ien,  of 
the  second  century  B.C.,  writes  that: 

*'King  Wei  of  Ch'u,  having  heard  of  the  great 
wisdom  and  virtue  of  Chwang  Cheu,  sent  a 
messenger  to  him  with  rich  presents,  to  bring 
him  to  his  court,  under  promise  that  he  should 
receive  the  dignity  of  prime  minister;  but 
Chwang  laughed.  *Sir,'  said  he,  *have  you 
never  seen  an  ox  that  has  been  selected  as  a 
victim  for  the  suburban  sacrifices?  They  feed 
it  for  years,  and  deck  it  with  embroidery,  that 
it  may  be  fit  to  enter  the  great  temple;  but 
when  the  time  of  sacrifice  has  come,  it  may 
wish — but  in  vain — to  be  a  lonely  pig.  Go, 
sir,  let  there  be  nothing  here  to  soil  me.  I 
prefer  to  make  myself  comfortable  by  strolling 
and  playing  in  a  dirty  ditch  (like  such  a  pig)^ 
rather  than  to  live  under  the  tyranny  of  the 

Book  6,  or  Chapter  15. 


126   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


owner  of  a  state.  To  the  end  of  my  life  I  will 
refuse  to  take  office  that  I  may  feel  comfortable 
in  the  enjoyment  of  my  free  will.*  "' 

Chwang  supplies  us  with  some  interesting  par- 
ticulars of  the  way  in  which  such  devotees  practised 
the  Taoist  discipline.  He  tells  of  one  Nan-poh- 
tsze-kwei,  who  said  to  Nii-yu,  another  Taoist : 

*'  'Sir,  you  are  so  old,  and  yet  your  complexion 
is  like  that  of  a  child;  what  is  the  reason  of  it? ' 
The  reply  was,  *I  have  learned  the  Tao.  .  .  . 
There  was  one  Poh-liang  khi;  I  carefully  took 
care  of  him  and  coimselled  him,  and  in  three 
days  he  was  able  to  place  himself  beyond  this 
material  world.  This  accomplished,  I  con- 
tinued my  care  of  him,  and  in  seven  days  he 
could  place  himself  beyond  men  and  beings. 
This  done,  nine  more  days  of  care  sufficed  to 
abstract  him  from  life  and  existence.  And 
this  accomplished,  he  could  discern  everything 
with  a  perspicacity  as  clear  as  daylight.  And 
possessing  such  perspicacity,  he  could  see  him- 
self quite  independently  (from  matter),  so  that 

»  Shi  ki,  Chapter  63,  fo.  5. 


Holiness  through  Asceticism         127 


there  was  for  him  neither  past  nor  present;  and 
freed  from  these,  he  could  enter  into  the  state 
which  was  neither  death  nor  life.  He  was  a 
living  being  who  did  everything  and  had  inter- 
course with  everybody;  but  as  everybody  and 
everything  was  to  him  as  annihilated,  he  ac- 
complished everything. '  .  .  . 

"On  this,  Nan-poh-tsze-kwei  said:  'And 
yourself,  sir,  from  whom  did  you  learn  the 
Tao? '  '  I  learned  it  from  the  son  of  Fu-mih ;  he 
learned  it  from  the  grandson  of  Loh-sung,  who 
learned  it  from'  "...  [eight  more  names]. 

This  paragraph  is  instructive.  To  summarise 
what  it  states: — Acquisition  of  the  Tap  consisted 
in  abstraction  of  one's  self  or  one's  thoughts  from 
the  world,  from  men,  and  from  one's  own  personal- 
ity. This  process  could  be  effected,  even  in  a 
tolerably  short  time,  by  the  instruction  of  a  master ; 
that  is  to  say,  by  submission  to  his  mind  or  will 
controlling  or  directing  the  mental  state  of  the 
pupil ;  we  should  say  by  hypnosis.  For  the  Taoist, 
fashioned  in  this  manner,  there  was  in  the  end  no 
being  or  thing.     He  lost  all  thought  of  the  past  and 

^  Book  3,  or  Chapter  6. 


128    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


the  present;  forgetful  of  everything  and  every 
being,  he  was  self-absorbed,  indifferent  even  about 
this  life  and  death  of  himself  and  others — he  was 
in  a  state  of  "dispassion'*  and  quietism,  and 
therefore  almighty. 

The  stoical  character  of  practical  Taoism  is  de- 
picted by  Chwang  in  the  following  words : 

*'My  pupils  take  the  attitude  of  doing  noth- 
ing, and  all  beings  will  of  themselves  develop 
(their  goodness).  Mortify  your  bodies;  cast 
out  from  you  the  operations  of  your  percep- 
tive senses;  forget  your  relations  with  other 
beings;  cultivate  the  greatest  similarity  with 
the  universal  ether;  set  free  your  will  and  de- 
liver your  soul  (shen);  be  nobody  or  nothing, 
and  behave  as  if  you  had  no  soul."' 

All  this  is  Qccultisrri-jQr-4nystici.sm ;  but  it  was 
actually  practised,  and  influenced  the  ways  and 
life  of  men.  It  was  far  more  than  theoretical  specu- 
lation, indulged  in  by  a  few  philosophers;  else 
we  would  be  sure  to  find  in  Chinese  books  remains 
of  other  systems  of  thought  and  behaviour,  but 

^  Book  4,  or  Chapter  23. 


Holiness  through  Asceticism         129 


there  is  nothing  of  the  kind.  We  must  perforce 
assume  the  existence  of  one  single  catholic  sys- 
tem, Taoist,  embracing  the  thinking  element  of  an- 
cient China,  and  a  considerable  number  of  men 
who  actually  followed  its  discipline. 

Lao-tsze  speaks  of  such  men  in  the  Too  teh  king, 
likewise,  imder  the  designation  shi  or  doctors. 

*' Superior  doctors,  when  they  hear  about 
the  Tao,  carry  it  into  practice  with  zeal. 
Doctors  of  the  middle  quality,  when  they  have 
been  taught  it,  now  keep  it,  and  then  lose  it. 
And  inferior  doctors,  when  they  have  heard 
about  it,  laugh  heartily  at  it;  if  it  were  not 
laughed  at  by  them,  it  would  not  deserve  to  be 
considered  as  the  Tao.'  Men  of  antiquity, 
who  had  the  capacity  to  be  doctors,  had  mys- 
terious intelligence,  subtile  and  exquisite,  and 
so  profoimd  as  to  elude  man's  comprehension. 
Though  they  were  beyond  man's  comprehen- 
sion, I  will  make  an  effort  to  describe  their 
appearance.  They  resembled  men  who  have 
to  wade  through  a  (frozen)  stream  in  win- 
ter; they  were  like  men  living  in  fear  of  their 
»  Too  Uh  king,  §41. 


130   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


neighbours  on  all  sides,  or  like  guests  or  strangers 
(timid  and  passive) ;  evanescent  like  ice  about 
to  melt  away;  substantial  like  fresh  wood;  they 
were  as  wide  and  broad  as  a  valley,  vast  as  a 
body  of  water,  the  slime  of  which  has  settled. 
Who  can  precipitate  his  own  slime?  He  who 
is  quiet  gradually  becomes  pure.  Who  can 
seciu-e  such  a  condition  of  quiet?  He  who 
spreads  his  actions  over  long  periods,  who  spends 
his  life  slowly  (and  thus  lengthens  it).  He 
who  cherishes  this  method  of  the  Tao,  does  not 
desire  to  be  full  of  himself;  yes,  if  he  is  not  full 
of  himself,  he  will  be  devoid  of  all  glory  and 
never  renew  his  actions."' 

Superficially  considered,  all  this  appears  like  the 
language  of  a  mystic;  yet  it  is  a  fairly  intelligible 
description  of  the  man  of  inaction  or  dispas- 
sion  avoiding  human  society,  willess,  silent,  self- 
absorbed.  We  learn  from  that  passage  that  the 
use  of  the  term  Tao-shi,  "doctors  of  the  Tao, "  or 
"Taoist  doctors,"  by  which  the  devotees  of  Taoism 
are  generally  denoted  to  this  hour,  dates  fronxXiao- 
_tszS,  or  may  even  be  older. 

'  Tao  kk  king,  Us* 


Holiness  through  Asceticism         131 


In  the  Tao  teh  king  we  find  Lao-tsze  himself 
portrayed  by  his  own  hand  as  an  ascetic  of  the  Tao, 
despondent,  without  desires,  having  no  calling  or 
trade,  living  from  hand  to  mouth,  applying  his  in- 
teUigence  to  nothing,  wilfully  stupid  and  ignorant. 

"All  men  indulge  in  pleasures,  such  as  feasting 
on  fat  oxen  or  going  up  to  a  look-out  terrace 
in  spring; — I  alone  am  shy,  without  manifesta- 
tion (of  passions) ,  like  an  infant  that  has  not  yet 
smiled.  I  am  living  at  random,  as  one  who  has 
no  home.  All  men  have  more  than  they  want, 
but  I  alone  seem  to  be  forgotten  and  aban- 
doned. My  mind  is  that  of  an  ignoramus — ^it 
is  vague.  The  people  look  bright  and  intelli- 
gent ;  I  alone  look  dull ; — they  look  full  of  dis- 
crimination ;  I  alone  am  stupid.  I  am  adrift  as 
on  a  sea,  floating  about  as  if  I  had  no  place  to 
rest.  All  men  have  their  occupations;  I  alone 
am  too  stupid  (for  any  occupation) ,  like  a  pariah. 
I  alone  am  different  from  other  men;  but  I 
cotmt  it  an  excellent  thing  to  seek  nourishment 
from  our  mother  (the  Tao).*'" 

Sz^-ma  Ts'ien  also  describes  Lao-tszS  as  a  stoic 

*  Too  teh  king,  §  20. 


132    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


and  a  hermit.  Confucius  travelled  to  Cheu  in 
order  to  interrogate  Lao-tszS  about  the  laws  and 
rites  of  social  life  {li). 

^  "I  have  been  told,"  said  Lao,  "that  a  good 
tradesman  carefully  conceals  his  possessions,  that 
he  may  seem  to  have  none,  and  that  a  man  who 
is  eminent  by  virtue,  even  though  his  virtue  is 
complete,  assumes  the  air  of  an  ignoramus. 
Put  away  your  pride  and  your  desires,  your 
elegant  appearance,  and  your  unbridled  will; 
they  are  of  no  advantage  to  yourself.  This  is 
all  I  have  to  tell  you,  Sir.  .  .  . 

"Lao-tsze  cultivated  the  Tao  and  its  virtues; 
his  school  applied  itself  to  self-effacement,  re- 
fusing to  seek  fame.  ...  He  was  an  eminent 
man  of  virtue  among  those  who  lived  in 
seclusion."' 

Although  Confucius  was  evidently  no  adherent 
of  the  Taoist  discipline  in  its  rigorous  form,  and 
certainly  no  hermit,  yet  we  are  not  entitled  to 
admit  that  he  was  not  a  good  Taoist.  The  fact 
that  he  piously  visited  Lao-tsze  in  his  retirement 

»  Shi  ki,  Chapter  63,  fo.  3. 


Holiness  through  Asceticism         133 


is  significant ;  moreover,  according  to  two  Classics, 
he  explicitly  mentioned  Taoist  retirement  and 
indifferentism  with  high  praise. 

"The  very  wise  and  virtuous  man,**  said  he, 
"acts  and  behaves  according  to  the  Tao;  to 
abandon  its  rule  of  conduct  when  half-way 
advanced  is  impossible  for  me.  The  man  who 
is  very  wise  and  virtuous  is  an  adherent  of  the 
chung  practice  {i.e.,  he  suppresses  or  regulates 
his  passions,  see  p.  109) ;  but  it  is  only  the  holy 
man  who  can  withdraw  from  the  world  and 
conceal  his  wisdom  without  spite.  The  Tao  of 
the  man  of  great  wisdom  and  virtue  extends 
everywhere,  even  though  he  lives  in  retirement. ' 
It  exists  in  concealment,  and  yet  it  becomes 
more  and  more  brilliant  day  by  day,  while  the 
Tao  of  the  ordinary  man  makes  display,  and 
thus  gradually  vanishes  day  by  day.  The  Tao 
of  the  man  who  is  eminently  wise  and  virtuous 
consists  in  indiff erentism ;  he  is  never  dissat- 
isfied with  it.  * 

"Those  who,  with  earnest  faith,  wish  to  learn 
the  Tao  of  natural  goodness,  which  protects 

'  Chung  yung,  12  and  13.  »  Chung  yung,  33. 


134   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


against  death,  neither  enter  a  state  which  is  in 
danger,  nor  stay  in  a  state  where  disorder  reigns. 
When  Tao  prevails  in  the  world  under  heaven, 
they  show  themselves;  when  there  is  no  Tao, 
they  hide  themselves.^ 

"Living  in  retirement,  in  order  to  find  out 
what  should  be  their  plan  of  life:  and  practis- 
ing righteousness  in  order  to  cause  their  Tao 
to  exercise  its  influence  everywhere — I  have 
heard  these  words,  but  have  never  seen  the 


men.'** 


After  reading  these  classical  passages,  we  may 
look  with  less  distrust  at  a  page  in  Chwang's  writ- 
ings which  represents  Confucius  as  a  most  ardent 
apostle  of  Taoism,  urging  a  prominent  disciple  of 
his  own  towards  the  cultivation  of  indifferentism 
about  his  own  person  and  the  things  around  him, 
and  also  to  the  practice  of  "inaction"  even  with 
regard  to  the  cultivation  of  the  four  classical 
cardinal  virtues.  Yen  Hwui  said:  "I  am  making 
progress,  I  am  no  longer  thinking  of  benevolence 
and  righteousness."  "This  is  right,"  Confucius 
said,  "but  it  is  not  yet  enough." 

'  Lun  yii,  book  8,  §  13.  » Lun  yu,  book  16,  §  11. 


Holiness  through  Asceticism  135 


Another  day  he  saw  Confucius  again,  and  said : 
'*I  am  progressing,  I  have  ceased  to  think  of  laws 
and  rites,  of  social  life,  and  music."  "Very  well, 
but  that  is  not  enough.*' 

And  another  day,  when  he  visited  Confucius, 
he  said:  "I  am  progressing;  I  am  sitting  forgetful 
of  everything . ' '    Confucius  now  sHghtly  advanced . 

"My  limbs,"  said  Yen  Hwui,  "are  hanging 
down ;  I  have  cast  out  from  me  the  sensations  of 
my  perceptive  organs ;  I  have  separated  myself 
from  my  material  body,  and  discarded  all  my 
wisdom,  and  so  I  am  now  assimilated  with  the 
all-pervading  (ether);  this  then  is  what  I 
thought  to  be  sitting  and  forgetting  everything." 

Confucius  said : 

"Being  now  assimilated  with  it,  you  are  free 
from  all  likings ;  so  transformed  you  have  become 
an  extraordinary  being,  whose  wisdom  and  vir- 
tue really  are  superior  to  mine ;  pray  allow  me  to 
follow  you  as  a  pupil."' 

It  is  therefore  through  the  Classics  themselves 
that  ancient  Universistic  or  Taoist  asceticism  has 

^  Book  3,  or  Chapter  6. 


136   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


entered  into  Confucianism,  and  has  always  main- 
tained its  place  therein.  Such  asceticism  or  mor- 
tification on  the  Universistic  principle  has  been 
described  in  the  Classics  in  various  forms,  that  is 
to  say,  canonised  as  a  holy  religious  institution  of 
the  State  Religion.  One  instructive  example  may 
be  quoted  here. 

There  is  among  the  Classics  a  most  interesting 
Universistic  treatise,  entitled  Yueh  ling,  or  "Re- 
scripts for  the  Months  " ;  it  is  one  of  the  many  books 
of  the  Li  ki.  It  may  be  described  as  a  text-book 
for  rulers  and  their  subjects,  enabling  them,  by 
carefully  following  its  directions,  to  adapt  their 
conduct  to  the  Tao  or  Order  of  the  World  which  is 
in  the  main  the  annual  round  of  Time.  It  was 
composed  by  Lu  Puh-wei,  the  prime  minister  of 
Shi  Hwang,  who  evidently  used  certain  documents 
the  age  of  which  cannot  be  determined.  In  this 
curious  handbook  for  the  Tao  of  Man  we  find  the 
following  lines  : 

"In  the  month  of  midsummer  the  growth 
of  the  days  reaches  the  ultimate  point,  and  the 
Yin  and  the  Yang  commence  their  annual  strug- 
gle, so  that  the  principles  of  death  and  produc- 


Holiness  through  Asceticism         137 


tion  separate.  Men  eminent  for  virtue  and 
wisdom  {kiiin'tsze)  then  fast ;  they  conceal  them- 
selves somewhere  in  their  dwellings,  where  their 
desires  are  stilled,  where  they  do  nothing  with 
precipitation,  and  banish  music  and  lust.  No- 
body may  enter  there;  they  must  take  the 
smallest  possible  quantity  of  savoury  food,  and 
have  no  well-tasting  mixtures  brought  to  them. 
They  must  put  their  sexual  desires  in  the  back- 
ground, and  set  their  minds  at  rest.  And  all 
magistrates  must  stop  business,  and  no  longer 
inflict  punishments,  in  order  to  establish  a  state 
of  things  in  which  the  Yin  can  fully  develop.  ^ 

"And  in  the  month  of  midwinter,  the  short- 
ening of  the  days  reaches  the  ultimate  point, 
and  from  the  struggle  of  the  Yin  and  the  Yang 
the  principle  of  production  will  germinate.  The 
man  of  great  wisdom  and  virtue  then  fasts;  he 
must  hide  himself  somewhere  in  his  dwelling, 
where  his  desires  are  quieted,  where  he  discards 
all  indulgence  in  music  and  lust,  represses  his 
sexual  desires,  and  gives  rest  to  his  body  and 
his  natural  instincts.  It  is  his  wish  that  all 
occupations  be  performed  with  quietness,   in 

»  Lii-shi  ch'un  tsin,  or  "Lu's  Annuary,"  book  5,  §  i. 


138    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


order  that  the  restful  state  of  things  which  the 
Yang  and  the  Yin  are  establishing,  be  awaited.*'  * 

Chwang-tszS  boldly  refers  Taoist  asceticism  to 
China's  most  ancient  times.  He  represents  the 
mythical  emperor  Hwang-ti  as  having  retired  for 
three  months,  in  order  to  prepare  himself  for  re- 
ceiving the  Tao  from  one  Kwang  Sheng-tszS,  an 
ascetic  who  practised  quietism,  freedom  from 
mental  agitation,  deafness  and  blindness  to  the 
material  world,  and  so  on.  Retirement  from  the 
busy  world  is  frequently  mentioned  in  the  Classics 
and  in  other  ancient  writings  by  the  terms  tun, 
fufiy  yih,  and  yin;  and  though  it  is  not  stated  in 
every  case  that  it  was  practised  on  account  of  the 
Taoist  principle,  the  influence  of  this  principle  can 
hardly  be  supposed  to  have  been  alien  to  it.  Under 
the  Han  dynasty  Taoist  ascetics  reappear  in  liter- 
ature in  great  numbers,  and  their  number  does  not 
fall  off  in  the  first  centuries  that  follow  the  reign 
of  that  famous  House.  A  great  number  are  de- 
scribed as  having  lived  in  the  classical  age,  even  in 
the  remote  mythical  time.  Such  descriptions 
may,  of  course,  be  mere  products  of  fancy,  but  it  is 

» Idem.,  book  11,  §  i. 


Holiness  through  Asceticism         139 


quite  possible  that  they  embody  embellished  tradi- 
tions and  reminiscences  of  a  golden  era  of  Taoist 
asceticism.  Thus  we  possess  a  large  Taoist  hagio- 
graphy,  a  description  of  a  Parnassus  of  saints, 
many  of  whom  have  always  had  their  temples, 
and  are  still  worshipped.  This  hagiography  con- 
tains useful  material  for  the  study  of  ancient  reli- 
gion and  philosophy.  It  enables  us  to  give  a 
reliable  picture  of  the  main  features  and  character- 
istics of  ascetic  life,  that  is  to  say,  the  manner  in 
which,  according  to  tradition,  devout  Taoists 
tried  to  "gain  the  Tao,*'  which,  as  we  know,  is 
equivalent  to  the  state  of  divinity. 

The  hagiography  designates  these  hermits  by  / 
terms  which  express  holiness  and  perfection,  and 
in  particular  by  sien.  The  written  form  of  this 
word  is  composed  of  the  character  "Man,*'  and 
"hiir*  or  "mountain,"  thus  denoting  their  living 
in  remote  and  unfrequented  places.  Seeing  that 
the  word  occtus  with  great  frequency  in  the  writ- 
ings of  the  Han  dynasty,  we  may  suppose  that  the 
men  whom  it  denoted  were  numerous  at  that 
period.  I  have  not  found  it  in  the  works  of 
Chwang-tsze,  nor  in  any  of  the  Classics,  nor  in 
the  writings  of  Lu  Puh-wei,  so  that  it  probably 


140    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


was  not  used  until  the  third  or  second  century 
B.C. 

These  sien,  many  of  whom  are,  of  course,  stated 
to  have  been  gods  or  sJieriy  or  shen  sien,  "divine 
sieUy*'  are  described  as  living  in  caverns  and  dens, 
in  cabins  amidst  cultivated  fields,  on  seashores  and 
river-banks,  even  in  nests  made  in  trees,  familiaris- 
ing themselves  with  wild  quadrupeds,  fishes,  and 
birds,  and  quietly  enjoying  the  beauties  of  trees 
and  plants.  It  is  often  stated  that  they  cultivated 
the  doctrines  and  purity  of  Lao-tsze;  whence  we 
may  conclude  that  this  worthy  held  the  position 
of  their  chief  patriarch  at  a  very  early  date.  Of 
many  it  is  related  that  rulers,  even  emperors, 
having  heard  of  their  perfection  in  the  Tao,  sent 
for  them,  to  make  them  their  ministers,  in  order 
that  they  might,  by  the  miraculous  effect  of  their 
"virtue  by  inaction,"  perfect  the  people.  As  a 
rule,  of  course,  they  refused  to  come,  and  preferred 
to  die  the  death  of  quietism  at  a  very  great  age. 
It  is  important  to  note  that  many  are  stated  to 
have  attracted  numerous  disciples,  so  many  that 
the  place  at  the  Master's  abode  came  to  look  like 
a  lively  market.  Thus,  their  hermitages,  which 
we  find  denoted  by  the  term  tsing-shay  "cottages 


Holiness  through  Asceticism         141 


for  spirituality,"  were  the  rudimentary  forms  of 
the  monasteries  or  kwan  which  are  frequently 
mentioned,  especially  in  writings  of  the  T'ang 
dynasty.  But  any  great  development  of  real 
Taoist  monasticism  was  prevented  by  the  impor- 
tation of  Buddhism. 

This  religion  found  its  way  into  the  empire  of 
China  during  the  reign  of  the  house  of  Han,  and 
perhaps  even  before  that  time.  It  was  more  par- 
ticularly the  Mahay  ana  form  of  Buddhism  that 
entered  China,  i,  e.,  "the  great  or^ broad  way*'  to 
salvation,  which  claimed  to  lead  all  beings  what- 
ever, even  animals  and  devils,  through  several 
stages  of  perfection  unto  the  very  highest  stage  of 
holiness,  that  of  the  buddhas  or  gods  of  Univer- 
sal Light,  equivalent  to  absorption  in  universal 
Nothingness  {NJ^vana) .  This  *  *  Broad  Way ' '  could 
be  trodden  by  following  a  religious  discipline,  con- 
sisting principally  of  asceticism  and  self-mortifica- 
tion.  Accordingly,  it  bore  a  striking  resemblance 
to  the  ''  Tao  of  Man, "  which,  as  we  know,  by  anni- 
hilating the  passions,  led  to  wu  wet  or  to  that 
nothingness  of  action  which  the  Universe  itself 
displays.  The  two  systems  perfectly  coalesced — 
they  met  harmoniously ;  Buddhism  might  consider 


142    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


its  road  into  China  to  have  been  paved  by  Taoism. 
It  adopted  the  word  Tao,  which  means  "way," 
to  denote  its  own  way  to  salvation;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  Taoism  held  that  Buddhism  was 
preached  in  India  by  Lao-tsze  himself,  who  jour- 
neyed for  this  purpose  to  the  west  and  never 
returned.  The  fusion  was  greatly  furthered  by 
the  universalistic  and  syncretic  spirit  of  the  Maha- 
yana,  which,  while  imperatively  insisting  on  effort 
for  the  salvation  of  all  beings,  and  the  increase  of 
means  leading  to  that  great  end,  allotted,  with 
almost  perfect  tolerance,  a  place  in  its  system  to 
the  Tao  of  the  Taoists. 

While  this  process  of  fusion  was  going  on,  the 
foreign  religion  had  carried  monastic  life  to  a  high 
state  of  development  in  the  holy  land  of  its  founder. 
As  it  imported  principles,  regulations  and  practices 
of  that  life,  quite  ready-made,  development  of 
Taoist  seclusion  became  superfluous;  the  road  to 
supreme  perfection  or  salvation  which  led  through 
the  Buddhist  monasteries,  proved,  in  fact,  broad 
enough  for  all  men.  On  the  other  hand,  the  ex- 
ample of  Buddhist  monastic  life  influenced  Taoist 
seclusion.  The  result  has  been  that  Taoist  monas- 
teries existed,  and  still  exist  side  by  side  with  the 


Holiness  through  Asceticism         143 


Buddhist,  but  in  much  smaller  niunbers.  The 
task  of  leading  mankind  to  perfection  through  an 
ascetic  life  has  devolved,  for  the  most  part,  on  the 
imported  Church  of  Shakyamuni. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  main  object  of 
the  anchorites  of  Taoism  was,  from  the  very 
beginning,  the  cultivation  of  dispassion,  inaction, 
placidity,  taciturnity — those  great  virtues  of  the 
Universe  itself,  preached  by  the  ancient  patriarchs 
of  the  Tao,  and  embracing  many  others,  such  as 
unselfishness,  mildness,  humility,  compliance.  This 
striving  for  holiness  or  divinity  by  cultivation  of 
virtue  was  greatly  encouraged  by  another  ideal 
aim,  namely,  prolongation  of  life  on  this  earth, 
and  its  subsequent  perpetuation ; — thus  earthly 
life  might  gradually  become  a  transition  to  actual 
absorption  by  the  Yang  or  divinity  of  the  Universe, 
which  itself  is  eternal.  But  how  is  prolongation 
of  life  to  be  effected?  The  answer  is  simple:  since 
life  consists  in  the  possession  of  a  shen  or  soul,  it 
may  be  prolonged  by  perfection  of  this  soul. 
Such  psychical  perfection,  leading  to  holiness,  is, 
of  course,  also  a  fruit  of  the  cultivation  of  virtue. 
The  natural  conclusion  was  that  virtue  conferred 
longevity. 


144   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


This  is  a  dogma  of  very  great  antiqmty. 
"When  the  material  being,  after  having  attained 
its  maturity,"  says  Lao-tsze,  "becomes  old,  it  is 
on  account  of  its  /a(?-lessness ;  whatever  is  too-less 
soon  comes  to  an  end."'  Confucius,  according 
to  Tai  Teh,^  who  wrote  about  half  a  century 
before  our  era,  adhered  to  this  belief,  and  preached 
it.  "A  ruler,"  he  declared,  "whenever  he  acts, 
practises  the  Tao,  and  whenever  he  does  not  act 
practises  its  laws.  Should  he  not  behave  in  this 
manner,  he  will  not  reach  a  great  age."^  And  we 
have  seen  (p.  53)  that,  according  to  Kwan-tsze, 
the  man  who  suppresses  his  passions  becomes  pure, 
and  thus  causes  his  shen  to  be  invigorated  contin- 
ually by  a  new  supply  of  shen  matter,  obtained 
from  the  Yang  of  the  Universe,  which  is  the  highest 
perfection  of  purity.  By  this  process,  his  tsing 
or  vitality  increases;  becomes  independent  of 
matter  in  consequence  of  his  quietude  — refulgent, 
intelligent,  divine. 

Traditions  about  men  who  lengthened  their 
lives,  and,  through  cultivation  of  the  Taoist  dis- 

*  Tao  teh  king,  §  30. 

'  Usually  called  Ta  Tai,  "the  Greater  Tai." 
3  Ta  TaiUki,  §  81. 


Holiness  through  Asceticism  145 


cipline,  acquired  the  powers  of  heaven  and  earth, 
existed  undoubtedly  at  a  very  early  date.  Chwang 
wrote  in  glowing  terms  of  one  to  whom  the  myth- 
ical Hwangti  applied  for  instruction;  his  descrip- 
tion of  the  interview  is  instructive  in  regard  to  that 
discipline  and  its  supposed  excellent  results. 

''Nineteen  years  had  passed  since  Hwangti 
had  been  raised  to  the  dignity  of  Son  of 
Heaven,  and  his  ordinances  were  in  operation 
throughout  the  world  under  the  sky,  when  he 
heard  of  the  sage  Kwang-ch'ing,  who  was 
living  on  the  summit  of  Mount  Khung-tung. 
He  went  there  to  see  him.  'I  have  heard,* 
said  he,  'that  you,  O  sage,  are  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  the  Tao  of  the  highest  order; 
I  venture  to  ask  you  for  the  vitality  (tsing), 
which  that  Tao  confers,  for  I  wish  to  take  the 
vitality  of  Heaven  and  Earth  to  myself,  in 
order  thereby  to  further  the  growth  of  the 
five  cereals  for  the  nourishment  of  my  people. 
Besides,  I  wish  to  have  control  of  the  Yin  and 
and  the  Yang,  in  order  to  make  these  powers 
suit  all  living  beings.  How  shall  I  proceed 
to  accomplish  these  aims?'  " 


146   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


"And  the  sage  Kwang-ch'ing  said: 

"  *What  you  apply  for  is  thorough  knowledge 
of  material  things,  and  what  you  wish  to  con- 
trol is  the  decay  and  death  of  beings.  Yes, 
since  you  have  been  governing  this  worid, 
the  clouds  and  vapoiu-s  descend  as  rain  before 
they  are  sufficiently  condensed,  and  (as  a  con- 
sequence) herbs  and  trees  shed  their  leaves 
before  they  have  become  yellow;  the  light  of 
the  Sim  and  moon  shines  more  and  more  upon 
deserts.  Your  mind  is  that  of  a  clever  man 
ready  of  argument ;  and  therefore,  is  it  fit  to 
be  instructed  in  the  Tao  of  the  highest  order?* 

"  Hwang- ti  withdrew.  He  gave  up  the 
government  of  the  world,  built  a  special 
dwelling  for  himself  alone,  spread  in  it  a  mat 
of  plain,  bare  straw,  and  lodged  in  it  for  three 
months.  Then  again  he  went  to  see  the  sage. 
Kwang-ch*ing  was  lying  down  with  his  head 
to  the  south.  With  deferential  submission 
Hwang-ti  moved  towards  him  on  his  knees, 
repeatedly  bowed  low  with  his  head  to  the 
ground,  and  asked:  *I  have  heard  that  you, 
O  sage,  thoroughly  understand  the  Tao  of  the 


Holiness  through  Asceticism         147 


highest  kind;  I  venture  to  ask  you  how  I 
should  rule  my  body,  in  order  that  it  may 
exist  forever/  And  Kwang-ch'ing  rose  at  once. 
*A  good  question,'  said  he;  'come,  and  I  will 
tell  you  of  the  Tao  of  the  highest  order/ 

"  'Vitality  {tsing),  which  the  Tao  of  the 
highest  order  confers,  is  deepest  mysterious- 
ness  and  darkest  darkness;  its  ultimate  point 
is  tmconsciousness  and  silence.  Be  without 
seeing,  without  hearing;  envelop  yoiu*  own 
soul  in  stillness,  and  your  body  will  spontan- 
eously remain  in  the  correct  path;  be  still, 
and  you  are  sure  to  become  ptue;  if  you  do 
not  subject  your  body  to  toil,  you  do  not 
agitate  your  vitality,  and  you  may  live  for  ever. 
If  your  eyes  see  nothing  and  your  ears  hear 
nothing,  then  your  mind  (or  heart)  will  not 
be  conscious  of  anything,  your  shen  will  pre- 
serve your  body,  and  your  body  will  live  for 
ever.  Take  good  care  of  what  is  within  you, 
and  exclude  whatever  is  outside,  for  percep- 
tion on  a  large  scale  is  pernicious.  (By  those 
means)  I  will  lead  you  above  the  great  light, 
where  we  shall  be  at  the  source  of  the  Yang; 
I  will  guide  you  into  the  gate  of  mysterious- 


148   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


ness  and  darkness,  where  we  shall  arrive  at 
the  source  of  the  Yin.  Heaven  and  Earth 
have  control  of  us;  the  Yang  and  the  Yin 
comprise  us;  therefore,  if  you  carefully  pre- 
serve your  body,  your  material  substance  will 
spontaneously  become  strong  and  solid.  I 
maintain  in  myself  the  Universe,  thus  fixing 
its  harmonious  effects  upon  me;  and  having 
in  this  manner  cultivated  my  body  for  twelve 
himdred  years,  my  bodily  shape  has  undergone 
no  decay.* 

*'Hwang-ti  twice  bowed  low  with  his  head 
to  the  ground,  and  said:  * Kwang-ch'ing,  sage, 
you  are  a  heavenly  being.'  The  other  said: 
"Come  let  me  tell  you  something  more.  This 
material  body  has  an  endless  existence,  and 
yet  all  men  think  that  it  will  have  an  end;  its 
existence  is  imfathomable,  and  yet  all  men 
think  that  it  has  a  limit.  He  who  obtains 
my  Tao  may,  on  high,  become  the  Emperor 
of  Heaven,  and  may  here  on  earth  obtain  the 
dignity  of  a  sovereign;  but  he  who  fails  to 
obtain  my  Tao  may  see  the  light  above  him, 
yet  he  will  become  clay  under  the  ground. 
All  beings  which  now  exist  are  produced  from 


Holiness  through  Asceticism         149 


the  earth,  and  will  return  to  the  earth;  but 
I  shall  enter  the  gate  of  the  endless,  and  roam 
there  in  the  regions  of  the  ilHmitable.  There 
I  will  blend  my  light  with  that  of  the  sun  and 
moon,  and  exist  as  eternally  as  Heaven  and 
Earth,  unconscious  of  what  is  near  me, 
and  of  what  is  far  from  me.  Men  will  all  be 
dead,  when  I  alone  shall  live.'  "' 

This  tale  is  a  fable;  and  yet  we  cannot  refuse 
to  consider  that  emperor  and  that  wise  Taoist  as 
typical  specimens  of  a  class  of  men  who,  in  the 
time  of  Chwang-tsze,  really  practised  the  Univer- 
sistic  discipline  which  the  tale  describes.  Longev- 
ity, followed  by  absorption  by  the  Universal  Tao 
in  the  illimitable  void,  conferring  an  existence  as 
perpetual  as  that  of  Heaven  and  Earth — this 
fruit  of  dispassion  and  inaction — was  their  'final 
ideal.  It  is  personified  to  this  day  in  myth  and 
decorative  art,  in  particular  by  P  eng-tsu  whose 
figure,  which  is  to  be  found  in  almost  every  col- 
lection of  curiosities,  is  best  known  on  account  of 
his  forehead,  which  is  many  times  as  high  as  that  of 
an  ordinary  man ;  indeed,  the  forehead  of  every  old 

*  Book  4,  or  Chapter  ii. 


150   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


man  seems  to  increase  in  height  by  loss  of  hair. 
This  famous  Methusaleh  lived  from  the  23d 
century  B.C.  till  the  sixth.  An  enormously  great 
age  was  also  reached  by  Lao-tsz^,  whom  fable 
represents  as  having  lived  as  early  as  the  14th 
century  B.C. 

The  doctrine  that  virtue  is  naturally  conducive 
to  longevity  is  also  classical,  and,  therefore,  to 
this  day  a  dogmatic  law  in  the  ethical  system  of 
Confucianism.  It  may  for  this  reason  be  admitted 
to  have  at  all  times  exercised  a  beneficial  influence 
upon  morality.  The  greatest  teacher  of  China 
himself  preached  it  with  emphasis.  *' Those  who 
have  benevolence  are  long-lived,'*'  said  he,  and, 
referring  to  the  great  Shun,  he  said : 

"His  virtue  was  that  of  a  saint.  Having 
such  great  virtue,  it  could  not  be  but  that  he 
should  obtain  his  throne,  his  riches,  his  fame, 
his  longevity."^ 

We  know  that,  according  to  the  Confucian 
school,  virtue,  leading  to  holiness  or  divinity, 
should  be  cultivated  by  study  of  the  Classics,  the 

^Lun  yu,  book  6,  §  21.  •  Chung  yung,  17. 


Holiness  through  Asceticism         151 


bibles  of  the  Tao  of  Man.  It  is,  therefore,  a 
doctrine  that  such  study  must  result  in  prolonga- 
tion of  life.  There  can  be  no  question  for  any 
intelligent  Chinaman  that  the  divinity  or  shen, 
which  the  studious  or  virtuous  man  possesses, 
naturally  protects  him  against  the  devils  or  kweit 
which,  belonging  to  the  Yin,  are  the  life-destroying 
agents  in  the  system  of  the  Universe.  We  per- 
ceive immediately  that  this  doctrine  perfectly 
tallies  with  the  teaching  of  the  ancient  Taoist 
patriarchs  that  the  man  who  has  Tao  is  invulner- 
able. It  has  created  curious  ideas,  illustrated 
and  propagated  by  numerous  unwritten  tales; 
and  consequently  many  noteworthy  customs  have 
originated  from  it.  A  few  of  these  may  be 
mentioned. 

Virtuous  Taoists  can  expel  mischievous  spectres 
by  merely  blowing  at  them.  They  may  dwell 
comfortably  in  haimted  houses  without  incurring 
the  slightest  injury.  Spectres  will  even  slavishly 
worship  them,  and  humbly  implore  their  compas- 
sion and  mercy.  With  remarkable  frequency 
doctors  of  the  Tao  are  mentioned  in  Chinese 
writings  as  exorcising  magicians,  and  as  specialists 
for  the  knowledge  of  the  spectral  world  and  its 


152   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


mysteries.  Under  their  sacerdotal  leadership 
the  Taoist  religion  has,  in  point  of  fact,  become  a 
system  principally  devoted  to  exorcism,  practised 
by  means  of  the  shen  or  gods,  which  in  the  system 
of  the  Universe  constitute  the  powers  diametrically 
opposed  to  the  spectres.  It  follows  that  the  priestly 
magic  of  those  men,  by  means  of  which  they  can 
impel  the  gods  to  work  against  the  spectres,  en- 
hances the  fear  and  respect  which  spectres  enter- 
tain for  them.  In  their  hands  exorcism  is  a  main 
part  of  the  white  magic  that  is  practised  by  Uni- 
versism  for  the  good  of  Man. 

Exorcising  magical  power  is  also  the  common 
property  of~the  Confucian  intellectual  class. 
Every  scholar,  even  all  students,  nay  schoolboys, 
possess  it  in  a  measure  corresponding  to  their 
ability  and  literary  attainments,  in  particular  to 
the  grade  obtained  in  the  state-examinations.  Still 
higher  than  scholars  in  the  ranks  of  natural  exor- 
cists stand  the  members  of  the  ruling  class.  In 
truth,  these  are,  theoretically,  the  cream  of  the  in- 
tellectuals. Besides,  they  derive  exorcising  power 
from  the  Son  of  Heaven,  the  bearers  of  whose 
holiness  and  almightiness  they  are  in  administer- 
ing a  government  which  rests  on  the  Classics  and 


Holiness  through  Asceticism         153 


the  Tao.  It  is  from  him,  proportionate  to  their 
ranks  and  dignities,  that  they  borrow  the  authority 
which  he,  the  highest  being  on  this  earth,  wields 
over  all  spirits  that  exist.  The  emperor,  of  cotuse, 
is  ex-officio  the  greatest  natural  exorcist  of  this 
world;  and  indeed,  several  instances  of  imperial 
interference  to  rescue  the  people,  when  these  were 
suffering  from  devils,  are  recorded  even  in  the 
standard  histories.  These  books  teach  us  that 
Sons  of  Heaven  have  frequently  ordered  the  man- 
darins in  such  harassed  regions  to  offer  sacrifices 
to  the  devils,  and  to  command  them,  in  the  em- 
peror's name,  to  stop  their  evil  work. 

Exorcising  charms,  if  written  with  carnation 
ink-pencils  of  mandarins,  are  deemed  to  be  ex- 
tremely powerful.  Such  pencils  are  placed  upon 
the  sick,  in  order  to  ciu-e  them,  or  fastened  to  their 
beds,  or  above  their  chamber-doors.  Servants 
and  imderlings  of  mandarins  make  money  by  the 
sale  of  such  pencils,  either  directly  to  the  people, 
or  through  shopkeepers.  Name  cards  of  manda- 
rins, impressions  of  their  seals,  and  waste  letter- 
covers  which  bear  such  impressions,  in  particular 
if  they  are  obtained  from  viceroys  and  other  first- 
rank  dignitaries,  or  from  provincial  chief  judges, 


154   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


are  likewise  highly  prized  for  use  in  this  manner, 
and  are,  moreover,  burned  to  ashes  and  given  to 
patients  to  drink  with  water.  One  seal-impress 
of  this  kind  is  considered  indispensable  by  many 
at  every  marriage,  to  ensure  felicity  to  the  couple 
for  all  their  lives ;  it  should  be  carried  by  the  bride 
in  her  pocket  or  dress,  while  she  is  being  trans- 
ported to  the  home  of  her  bridegroom.  People 
of  small  means,  unable  to  buy  genuine  material 
of  this  sort,  content  themselves  with  that  of 
teachers  or  other  less  distinguished  members  of 
the  learned  class.  School-masters  are  often  re- 
quested to  draw  circles  of  cinnabar  ink  round  dia- 
bolical boils  and  ulcers,  wherewith,  in  dirty  China, 
children  in  particular  are  commonly  troubled. 
And  finally,  people  make  much  use,  in  similar  ways 
and  for  similar  ends,  of  old  pencils  and  bits  of 
manuscript  of  schoolboys,  in  the  comfortable 
conviction  that  demons  are  intimidated  by  pro- 
spective graduates  and  mandarins,  just  as  much 
as  by  complete  dignitaries. 

/      If  Taoistic  virtue,  obtained  by  classical  study 

^  and  learning,  is  so  excellent  a  defence  against  devils 

and  their  evil  work,  and,  therefore,  so  good  a 

means  to  prolong  life,  it  is  evident  that  the  classical 


Holiness  through  Asceticism         155 


writings  must  be  most  excellent  charms.  And  it 
is  a  fact  that  the  mere  presence  of  a  copy,  or  a 
fragment,  or  a  leaf  of  a  Classic  is  a  mighty  preserv- 
ative of  health  and  happiness,  an  excellent  medi- 
cine for  diabolical  disease.  As  early  as  the  Han 
dynasty,  books  mention  men  who  protected  them- 
selves against  danger  and  misfortune  by  reciting 
classical  phrases.  But  also  writing  and  sayings 
of  any  kind,  provided  they  be  of  an  orthodox 
stamp,  destroy  demons  and  their  influences. 
Literary  men,  when  alone  in  the  dark,  ensure  their 
safety  by  reciting  the  Classics.  Should  babies 
be  restless  because  of  the  presence  of  devils,  clas- 
sical passages  do  excellent  service  as  lullabies. 
No  wonder  that,  according  to  tradition  traceable 
to  books  two  thousand  years  old,  the  demons 
wailed  at  night,  when  holy,  mythical  Ts*ang-kieh 
invented  the  wonderful  art  of  writing,  by  which 
the  Classics  have  been  made  and  preserved. 
That  art  is,  as  will  now  have  become  evident,  holy, 
magical,  evil-removing  and  good-producing. 

Immunity  from  life-destroying  influences,  in- 
suring prolongation  of  life,  might,  as  early  as  many 
centuries  before  the  Christian  era,  be  obtained 
also  by  means  less  dignified  than  cultivation  of 


156   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


virtue.  The  observation  that  when  a  man  has 
ceased  to  breathe  his  life  is  extinct,  that  is  to  say, 
his  vital  soul  has  left  him,  was  sure  to  lead  to  the 
assimilation  of  his  breath  {khi)  with  his  soul. 
And  as  his  soul  is  a  part  of  the  universal  dual  soul 
(Yang  and  Yin)  which  composes  the  atmosphere, 
soul-substance  may  be  drawn  into  the  body  by 
inhalation.  In  this  way  vitality  may  be  strength- 
ened and  life  prolonged. 

To  this  methodical  breathing  Lao-tsz^  devoted 
a  paragraph  in  his  famous  work. 

*' Feeding  the  soul  so  that  one  does  not  die  is 
(acquisition  of)  the  mysterious  (celestial  breath) 
and  the  female  (terrestrial  breath).  And  the 
openings  (the  mouth  and  nose),  through  which 
these  mysterious  and  female  breaths  enter,  are 
the  root  and  base  of  the  celestial  and  terres- 
trial influences  (which  exist  in  man).  They 
ought  to  be  inhaled  smoothly  and  slowly,  as  if 
they  were  to  be  preserved  (in  the  body) — in 
using  those  breaths,  no  exertion  is  to  be  made." ' 

Accordingly,  there  existed  in  ancient  China  a 
Taoist  system  of  pulmonic  gymnastics,  by  means 

*  Tao  teh  king^  \  6. 


Holiness  through  Asceticism         157 


of  which  assimilation  with  the  Tao  of  Heaven  and 
Earth  could  be  secured,  and,  as  a  consequence, 
long  life  also.  We  need  not  then  be  surprised  to 
read  in  Chwang's  writings  that  a  holy  man,  so  holy 
as  to  be  proof  against  water  and  fire,  "respires 
even  to  his  heels";  his  indestructible  person  is 
imbued  with  the  ether  of  the  Universe  even  to 
its  farthest  extremities.  This  great  Taoist  is 
the  first  to  give  us  particulars  of  the  discipline  of 
respiration. 

"Blowing  and  gasping,  sighing  and  breathing, 
expelling  the  old  breath  and  taking  in  new;  pass- 
ing time  like  the  (dormant)  bear,  and  stretch- 
ing and  twisting  (the  neck)  like  a  bird — ^all  this 
merely  shows  the  desire  for  longevity.  This  is 
what  doctors  who  inhale,  and  the  men  who  nour- 
ish their  bodies,  in  order  to  live  as  long  as  P'eng- 
tsu,  are  fond  of  doing."' 

Such  breathing  we  may  suppose  was  rather  hard 
work.  No  wonder  that  the  body  became  dozy 
like  a  hibernating  bear,  for  deep  inhalation  pro- 
duces drowsiness  and  lassitude;  but  this    effect 

*  Book  6,  or  Chapter  15. 


158    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


passed  for  the  clearest  proof  that  assimilation 
with  the  Tao  was  being  produced,  for  did  it  not 
represent  the  highest  qualities  of  the  holy  man, 
inaction,  taciturnity,  indifference  or  emptiness  and 
thoughtlessness  ? 

This  curious  method  of  obtaining  the  Tao  is 
mentioned  very  often  in  Chinese  books  of  classical 
and  later  times;  and  as,  moreover,  it  was  denoted 
by  a  variety  of  terms,  we  may  conclude  that  it  was 
practised  on  a  very  large  scale.  Of  those  terms 
I  may  mention:  tao  yin,  "inhaling";  lien  khi,  "to 
discipline  or  refine  the  breath";  seh  khi,  "to  use 
the  breath  frugally";  ch'uh  khi,  "to  hoard  up  the 
breath";  kin  khi,  "to  shut  up  the  breath";  t^un 
khi,  and  yen  khi,  "to  swallow  or  gulp  the  breath"; 
ya?ig  shen  or  kioh  shen,  "to  feed  the  soul";  yang 
hing,  "to  feed  the  body";  yang  shen,  "to  foster 
longevity " ;  yang  sheng,  "to  foster  or  nourish  life" ; 
yang  sing,  * '  to  feed  or  nurture  one's  human  nature. ' ' 

At  an  early  date  a  new  clause  was  added  to  this 
article  of  the  Taoist  discipline;  to  wit,  that  the 
circulation  of  the  breath  or  vital  spirit  should  be 
promoted  by  healthy  bodily  exercise. 

The  great  Taoist,  Lu  Puh-wei  (see  p.  136),  wrote 
in  his  Annuary  the  following  lines: 


Holiness  through  Asceticism         159 


"Vital  breath  is  not  collected  or  condensed 
in  the  body  unless  it  enters  it.  Collected  in 
feathered  birds,  it  enables  them  to  fly  and  soar. 
Hoarded  up  in  running  quadrupeds,  it  makes 
them  move  in  all  directions.  Condensed  in 
pearls  and  jade,  it  forms  their  vital  glare. 
Collected  in  plants  and  trees,  it  produces  their 
foliage  and  growth.  Collected  in  the  holy  man, 
it  forms  his  far-reaching  intelligence.  «  .  .  But 
it  is  motion  that  prevents  streaming  water 
from  putrefying,  door-pivots  from  being  at- 
tacked by  insects.  Thus  it  is  with  the  body 
and  its  breath.  If  the  body  is  motionless,  the 
vital  spirits  do  not  stream  through  it,  and  if  they 
do  not  do  so,  the  breath  is  depressed.  This 
depression  may  settle  in  the  head,  and  cause 
a  headache  and  boils;  it  may  settle  in  the  ears, 
and  cause  bad  hearing  and  deafness;  in  the 
eyes,  and  cause  dimness  and  blindness;  or  [in 
the  nose,  and  produce  catarrhal  obstruction. 
Settling  in  the  belly,  it  may  cause  tension  and 
constipation ;  settling  in  the  feet,  it  may  be  the 
cause  of  lameness  and  weakness.  ...  If  the 
vital  breath  is  renewed  every  day,  and  the  bad 
breath  entirely  leaves  the  body,  then  man  may 


i6o   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


reach  the  age  of  Heaven  itself.     Such  a  man  is 
a  saint.*'' 

It  cannot  possibly  have  escaped  the  notice  of 
the  ancients  that  strong  exertion  of  the  body,  as 
well  as  little  exertion,  that  is,  neglect  or  exaggera- 
tion of  inaction  or  wu  wet,  affects  respiration,  so 
that  respiration  may  serve  as  a  regulator  of  wu 
wei.  Nor  can  they  have  failed  to  observe  that  a 
similar  influence  is  exercised  upon  the  breath  by 
the  passions,  on  the  correct  regulation  of  which 
acquisition  of  the  Tao  is  dependent.  Tung  Chung- 
shu  wrote  in  the  second  century  B.C. : 

"If  a  man  is  too  full,  his  breath  cannot 
pervade  his  body;  and  if  he  is  too  empty,  his 
breath  is  insufficient.  If  he  is  too  hot,  his 
breath  is  too  cold ;  when  he  works  too  hard, 
no  breath  enters  him ;  when  he  is  too  lazy,  his 
breath  is  discontented ;  when  he  is  furious,  his 
breath  rises  high  in  him;  when  he  is  glad, 
his  breath  dissolves;  when  he  is  sorry,  it  be- 
comes foolish ;  when  he  is  afraid,  it  is  agitated. 
These  are  ten  conditions  in  which  the  breath 
*  Lii'Ski  cK  uh-to  in,  Book  3,  §  2  and  §  3. 


Holiness  through  Asceticism         i6i 


is  harmed,  all  proceeding  from  lack  of  'the 
mean'  (chung)  and  'harmony'  {hwo)  (see 
page  109)."^ 

We  now  understand  how  the  principles  of  the 
pulmonary  gymnastics  could  develop  into  a  system 
practised  for  centimes,  even  to  the  present  day. 
At  an  early  date  there  appear  theories  concerning 
the  part  of  the  body  round  the  navel,  where  the 
inhaled  breath  was  stored  up,  to  be  emitted  thence 
through  the  arms  and  legs.  This  so-called  kwan 
or  "gate"  required  long  and  slow  inhalations, 
which  produced  the  highest  degree  of  health,  as 
they  might  cause  the  breath  to  penetrate  into  the 
body  even  as  far  as  the  heels.  Much  inhalation 
and  little  exhalation  could  bring  about  a  condensa- 
tion or  curdling  of  the  breath  in  the  body,  to 
such  an  extent  that  respiration  became  unneces- 
sary altogether,  and  that  the  body  could  remain 
motionless  like  a  corpse  for  months  or  for  years. 
In  such  a  condition  the  body  existed  and  lived  with- 
out being  worn  out.  It  then  did  not  need  material 
food  at  all,  which  fact  of  itself  proved  that  it  was 
in  a  state  of  divinity.     Accordingly,  the  discipline 

«  Ch  *un-to  'mjan  hi.  Book  16,  or  §  77. 
zz 


1 62   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


of  the  breath  was  connected  with  abstinence  from 
food,  which  would  train  the  body  to  an  existence 
without  food  as  a  god  lives.  We  have  seen  (p.  60) 
that  Chwang-tsze,  in  his  vivid  description  of  godly- 
men,  stated  that  they  were  tender  and  delicate 
like  virgins  and  did  not  eat  any  of  the  five  cereals, 
but  inhaled  wind  and  drank  dew.  And  Tai  Teh 
quotes  from  Confucius  himself  these  remarkable 
words:  **He  who  eats  air  is  a  god,  and  long-lived. 
He  who  eats  nothing  does  not  die  and  is  a  god."^ 

A  gradual  disconnection  of  man  from  his  mate- 
rial body  by  allowing  it  to  emaciate,  and  his  gradual 
transition  to  a  state  exclusively  spiritual  by  ab- 
sorbing the  celestial  Yang,  of  which  all  shen  or 
gods  consist — this  was  the  ideal  aim  of  noble  minds 
in  the  Taoist  world.  The  hagiography  has  notices 
of  many  who,  besides  breathing  methodically, 
"abstained  from  cereal  food,"  thus  ''rendering 
the  body  light,"  nimble  and  volatile.  Many  of 
them  made  such  admirable  progress  in  this  art 
that  they  could  dispense  entirely  with  cereal  and 
other  food.  We  read  also  that  the  art  of  living 
without  food  could  be  furthered  by  holding  in  the 
mouth  certain  substances,   as  kernels  of  jujube 

«  Ta  Taili  ki,  §  81. 


Holiness  through  Asceticism         163 


fruits,  and  that  one  item  in  the  programme  of  the 
discipline  was  to  swallow  the  saliva,  because  this 
was  considered  to  be  the  vital  sap,  formed  by  con- 
densation of  breath.  We  hear  of  many  who, 
probably  on  account  of  strange  ideas  of  the  same 
kind,  drank  urine. 

Evidently,  the  quest  of  longevity  by  methodical 
breathing  and  fasting  was  firmly  established  as  a 
system  in  the  classical  period,  many  centuries 
before  the  rise  of  the  house  of  Han.  The  Standard 
History  of  this  dynasty  mentions  many  persons, 
including  statesmen  and  scholars,  who  devoted 
themselves  to  it.  The  list  opens  with  Chang 
Liang,  a  famous  heroic  mentor  of  the  foimder  of 
the  Han  dynasty,  one  of  whose  descendants,  Chang 
Tao-ling,  two  centuries  later,  founded  the  Taoist 
Church.  Renowned  authors  of  the  Han  dynasty 
have  devoted  their  pens  to  the  life-prolonging 
art,  and  it  is  probable  that  more  writings  on  the 
subject  have  been  lost  than  have  been  preserved. 
Among  those  authors  there  are  many  to  whose 
names  even  the  most  orthodox  Confucians  would 
allot  a  place  in  the  list  of  faithful  votaries  of 
their  school. 

Especially  famous  is  Hwa  T'o,  the  jKDSsessor 


164   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


of  the  most  wonderful  medical  and  surgical  talent 
that  the  world  has  produced.  He  flourished  to- 
wards the  close  of  the  second  century  a.d.  He 
could  extract  stomachs  and  bowels,  wash  them, 
and  put  them  back  in  their  places  without  the 
operation  having  any  other  effect  on  the  patients 
than  a  slight  indisposition.  Thoroughly  learned 
in  several  Classics,  he  understood  the  art  of  nur- 
turing his  human  nature  so  well  that,  when  near 
a  century  old,  he  had  the  complexion  of  a  man  in 
the  prime  of  life.  ...  He  spoke  of  this  art  with 
his  disciple  Wu  P'u  in  the  following  terms: 

**The  human  body  needs  to  work,  but  it 
must  not  work  to  its  utmost  capacity.  When 
it  is  in  motion,  the  food  is  digested,  and  the 
blood  circulates  through  the  arteries  in  all 
directions,  so  that  no  disease  can  rise.  Hence 
it  is  that  the  immortals  of  ancient  days,  while 
performing  the  inhalation  process  and  passing 
their  time  as  dormant  bears,  looking  round 
about  like  owls,  twitched  and  stretched  their 
loins  and  limbs,  and  moved  their  navel-gates 
and  their  joints,  in  order  to  hinder  the  advance 
of  age.     I  have  an  art,  called  the  sport  of  five 


Holiness  through  Asceticism         165 


animals,  namely,  a  tiger,  a  stag,  a  bear,  a 
monkey,  and  a  bird,  by  which  illness  can  be 
cured,  and  which  is  good  for  the  movements 
of  the  feet,  when  they  accompany  the  process 
of  inhalation.  Whenever  you  feel  unwell, 
stand  up  and  imitate  the  movements  of  one 
of  these  animals;  when  then  you  feel  more 
comfortable  and  in  a  perspiration,  put  rice- 
powder  over  your  body,  and  you  will  feel 
quite  nimble  and  well,  and  have  appetite." 

Wu  P*u  practised  this  sport,  and  when  he  was 
more  than  ninety  years  old,  his  hearing  was 
acute,  his  eye-sight  clear,  and  his  teeth  were 
complete  and  strong."' 

It  has  always  been  true  that  even  the  grandest 
and  most  august  conceptions  lead  to  frivolity  in 
the  hands  of  Man,  when  he  turns  them  to  selfish 
use.  In  China,  at  an  early  date  the  noble  way  to 
holiness  and  immortality,  through  the  cultivation 
of  the  virtues  of  the  Universe,  degenerated  into 
a  ludicrous  gymnastic  of  the  lungs,  accompanied 

'  The  Books  of  the  Later  Han  Dynasty,  Chapter  112  B.,  fos.  6 
and  9. 


1 66   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


by  some  primitive  indoor  sport,  obviously  for 
the  purpose  of  removing  the  bodily  and  mental 
depression  and  lassitude  caused  by  idle  wu  wei  or 
inaction.  Hwa  T'o's  method  of  the  five  beasts 
is  prescribed,  elaborated,  and  practised  to  this 
hour,  as  being  the  oldest  and  therefore  the  best, 
though  many  other  methods  have  been  invented 
in  the  course  of  the  ages.  The  discipline  of  the 
breath  became  a  discipline  of  the  lips  and  nostrils, 
which,  sometimes  with  the  help  of  the  fingers,  were 
opened  and  closed  methodically,  so  that  the  influx 
and  efflux  of  air  might  be  regulated  by  the  size  of 
the  openings.  Puffing,  inflating  the  cheeks  with 
air,  with  several  expirations  for  one  inspiration, 
and  vice  versa,  served  to  nourish  the  several  parts 
of  the  body,  each  according  to  a  stated  method. 
Shutting  the  ears  with  the  hands,  and  chattering 
or  grinding  the  teeth,  and  hanging  by  the  feet  were 
other  features  of  the  system. 

There  has  been  much  speculation,  from  the  time 
of  the  Han  dynasty  onward,  concerning  the  great- 
est longevity  attainable  by  the  system.  A  thousand 
years  has  been  mentioned.  There  has  been  much 
discussion  also  on  the  question  why  a  great  age  is 
so  seldom  reached,  man's  incapacity  to  subdue  his 


Holiness  through  Asceticism         167 


passions  being  so  great;  and  on  the  power  which 
the  system  can  bestow.  The  system  has  been 
highly  recommended  for  the  procreation  of  off- 
spring, as  it  tended  to  preserve  the  sexual  desires 
from  tension  and  exhaustion;  and  instances  are 
quoted  of  great  Taoists  who  retained  their  pro- 
creative  power  up  to  the  age  of  two  htmdred  years, 
with  faces  as  youthful  as  ever. 

In  Chinese  books,  the  discipline  of  the  breath 
for  the  strengthening  of  the  soul  or  shen  is  regularly 
recommended  for  the  sick  and  the  weak  also,  and 
it  is,  accordingly,  a  prominent  part  of  the  medical 
art.  Even  Hwang-ti,  the  holy  emperor  of  the 
28th  century  B.C.,  was  an  ardent  votary  of  this 
discipline.  Invigoration  of  the  shen  or  vital  energy, 
naturally,  according  to  all  medical  sages,  destroys 
the  influences  of  devils,  which,  as  we  know,  are 
the  agents  of  disease  and  death  in  the  system  of  the 
Universe.  The  shen  was  also  generally  invigor- 
ated by  the  swallowing  of  various  substances 
which  were  deemed  to  be  imbued  with  the  Yang, 
of  which  every  shen  is  a  part.  The  discovery  of 
such  substances  is  generally  ascribed  to  Taoists; 
it  was  Taoists  also  who  proved  their  salutary  effect 
by  their  own  longevity.     It  may  then  be  affirmed 


1 68    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


that,  from  the  beginning,  the  medicaLjart  was 
eminently_aJJjiiv^^  Many  of  its  famous 

practitioners  and  theorists,  whose  books  are  stand- 
ard works  to  the  present  day,  were  at  the  same  time 
Taoists,  and  medicine  is  now  practised  generally 
by  the  Tao  shi  or  Taoist  doctors,  along  with  exor- 
eisingmagic. 

The  discipline  of  the  breath  recommended  itself 
in  the  first  place  by  its  venerable  age,  and  through 
its  learned  appearance  it  was  well  calculated  to 
overawe  the  mind.  This  appearance  it  had  fully 
assumed  in  early  days.  This  is  proved  by  a  medi- 
cal work,  entitled  Su  wen,  which  is  believed  by 
the  Chinese  to  be  the  oldest  in  existence.  Ascribed 
to  Hwang-ti  and  his  counsellors,  though  undoubt- 
edly it  was  not  composed  or  edited  before  the 
Christian  era,  it  may  be  the  transmitter  of  much 
Chinese  knowledge  of  a  very  remote  time.  It 
teaches  that  the  Yang  and  the  Yin  are  composed  of 
five  sorts  of  breath,  namely,  warmth,  dryness,  cold, 
wind,  and  moisture;  and  it  states  that  Hwang-ti 
was  told  by  his  wise  minister,  Khi-poh,  that  these 
breaths  work  in  man,  and  in  living  beings  generally, 
in  various  quantitive  proportions,  thus  producing 
and  maintaining  their  life.     The  east,  said  that 


Holiness  through  Asceticism         169 


worthy,  produces  wind;  the  east  is  assimilated  with 
the  element  wood,  therefore  it  is  wind  which  creates 
wood,  and  also  sourness,  which  is  the  taste  of  the 
east.  All  these  factors  affect  or  rule  the  himian 
liver,  since  this  latter  is  assimilated  with  the  east ; 
the  liver  produces  the  muscles,  and  the  muscles 
produce  the  heart.  And  the  spring  is  assimilated 
with  the  east,  and  produces  every  year  the  shen 
or  vital  soul  of  the  Universe,  together  with  wood 
or  vegetation;  and  in  Man  it  produces  wisdom  or 
knowledge,  and  also  anger,  because  this  is  assim- 
ilated with  wind.  Therefore  it  is  clear  that  anger 
injures  the  liver,  and  that  wind  and  sourness  also 
have  a  bad  influence  upon  it.  In  the  same  intel- 
ligent and  intelligible  way  the  great  Khi-poh  gave 
combinations  for  the  other  cardinal  points  and  the 
centre  of  the  Universe,  making  it  easy  to  draw  up 
the  following  synoptical  table  of  wisdom,  Univers- 
istic,  medical,  and  philosophical. 

East     Spring     Wind       Wood  Sour   Liver      Muscle  and     Yellow  Anger 

Heart 
South  Summer  Warmth  Fire     Bitter  Heart     Blood  and       Blue    Joy 

Spleen 
Centre  Moisture  Earth  Sweet  Spleen    Flesh  and       Red     Thought 

Lungs 
West    Autumn  Dryness   Metal  Acrid  Lungs     Skin  Hair  and  White  Sorrow 

Kidneys 
North  Winter    Cold         Water  Salt     Kidneys  Bones  and       Black  Fear 

Marrow 


170    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


The  operation  of  the  five  breaths  of  the  Tao  of 
the  Universe  upon  Man  is  called  "the  fivefold  rota- 
tion," or  "the  rotation  of  the  breaths."  It  was  al- 
ways to  the  Chinese  nation  a  mine  of  pathological 
and  medical  wisdom,  and  numerous  doctors  of 
name  and  fame  have  produced  books  in  which  they 
elaborated  the  system  by  permutations  and  com- 
binations of  its  factors  in  various  ways,  with 
subtile  refinements.  The  sj^'stem  was,  of  course, 
highly  valued  also  for  its  simplicity,  since  every 
man  of  some  intelligence  was  enabled  by  it  to 
fathom  the  mysteries  of  human  health  in  connec- 
tion with  the  annual  round  of  the  world.  Indeed, 
taking  into  consideration  that  the  five  elements 
exert  either  a  destructive  or  a  creative  influence 
upon  each  other,  since,  e,  g,,  water  destroys  fire, 
metal  subdues  or  destroys  wood,  earth  produces 
wood  and  so  on ;  considering  furthermore  that  the 
passions  also  produce  or  destroy  each  other,  since, 
for  example,  sorrow  dissolves  anger,  joy  destroys 
sorrow,  and  fear  creates  sorrow — judicious  use  of 
\  the  table  and  some  cabalistic  reasoning  about  its 
factors,  might  in  every  case  lead  to  the  discovery 
of  the  organs  in  which  the  complaint  had  its  seat. 
This  discovery  made,  handbooks,  containing  the 


Holiness  through  Asceticism         171 


wisdom  of  the  ages,  suggested  plenty  of  medicines 
during  the  operation  of  which  the  diet  of  the 
patient  might  be  regulated  in  accordance  with  the 
way  in  which — as  the  table  shows  us — the  five 
tastes  or  flavours  correspond  with  the  seasons. 
Thus  treated,  and  eating  in  harmony  with  the 
annual  Order  of  the  Universe,  the  patient  could 
not  help  becoming  healthy  and  long-lived.  But  it 
seems  folly  to  waste  time  upon  such  hocus-pocus 
masquerading  as  wisdom,  even  though  it  has 
dominated  the  medical  art  of  China  for  all  ages. 

The  gymnastic  discipline  of  the  body,  which 
was  connected  with  that  of  the  breath,  is  called  to 
this  day  tso  kung,  "working  in  a  sitting  attitude.'* 
With  great  subtility  it  regulates  the  motions  of 
the  hands,  fingers,  arms  and  legs  during  every 
respiration,  and  prescribes  how  the  waist  shall  be 
twisted  and  the  neck  stretched,  and  how  the  tongue 
is  to  be  moved  in  order  to  further  the  secretion 
of  saliva.  The  attitudes  of  the  body  are  the  erect, 
the  sitting,  the  prostrate,  the  creeping,  with  coimt- 
less  variations.  There  are  special  exercises  for 
each  viscus,  for  every  season,  and  for  keeping  the 
senses  of  perception  in  a  healthy  state.  They  may 
by  no  means  be  performed  carelessly,  for  what  is 


172    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


good  for  one  limb  or  viscus  may  be  extremely 
injurious  for  another,  and  what  is  salutary  in  one 
season  of  the  year  may  do  great  harm  at  other 
times.  The  books  on  the  subject  are  generally 
illustrated,  showing  the  attitudes  desired.  These 
are  denoted  by  names  that  are  of  a  very  fantastical 
character,  or  are  derived  from  factors  that  play  a 
part  in  the  system  of  Universism. 

I  have  stated  (p.  167)  that  Taoist  anchorites 
also  tried  to  secure  prolongation  of  life,  and  im- 
munity from  death,  by  swallowing  substances 
which  were  deemed  to  be  imbued  with  the  Yang  of 
the  Universe.  In  the  vegetable  kingdom  there 
were  many  trees  which  could  have  an  existence  of 
enormous  length  by  reason  of  passionlessness, 
inaction,  taciturnity,  and  by  their  living  in  all 
respects  in  perfect  accord  with  Nature  and  its 
annual  process.  Human  reason  therefore  could 
not  help  believing  them  to  be  animated  by  a 
shen  of  peculiar  strength,  and  even  to  be  deposi- 
tories of  condensed  or  coagulated  soul  substance. 
Besides,  there  were  many  plants  which  were  proved 
by  experience  to  be  so  highly  animated  that  they 
could  instil  new  life  into  the  sick  who  partook  of 
them.     In  the  search  for  them,  Taoists  have  ran- 


Holiness  through  Asceticism         173 


sacked  forests  and  moimtain  slopes  for  ages. 
It  is  they  who  created  and  have  developed  the  art 
of  preparing  and  properly  consuming  elixirs  of 
life,  and  have  thus  richly  furnished  the  pharma- 
copaeia  of  China  with  life-giving  medical  herbs, 
impressing  a  Taoistic  character  on  the  therapeutic 
art.  The  art  of  acquiring  immortality  and  that 
of  curing  the  sick  naturally  coalesced;  and  they 
have  been  inseparably  allied  up  to  the  present 
time.  ' 

The  list  of  those  sovereign  vegetable  products 
is  long.  They  are  styled  shen  yoh,  "drugs  which 
contain  shen'';  sien  yoh,  "drugs  of  the  sien''; 
ling  yoh,  "drugs  which  possess  divine  power"; 
and  so  forth.  At  the  head  of  the  Hst  stand  the 
pine  or  fir,  and  the  cypress,  the  vital  strength  of 
which  is  manifested  by  their  never  losing  their 
foHage  even  in  the  greatest  cold.  Their  seeds 
and  their  resin  or  sap  were  especially  considered 
to  be  concentrations  of  the  vitality  of  the  trees, 
and  were  consumed  with  zeal.  Further,  the  list 
contains  the  plum  and  the  pear,  and  especially 
the  peach;  also  the  cassia,  which  bestowed  im- 
mortality upon  P'eng  Tsu;  besides  various  mush- 
rooms,  calamus  or  sweet-flag,  chrysanthemums, 


174   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


etc.  Minerals  too,  regarded  as  animated  by 
Nature,  were  used,  especially  gold,  jade,  pearls, 
mother-of-pearl,  cinnabar.  Not  every  individual 
specimen  of  such  plants  was  life-giving.  It  was 
from  a  very  few  only  that  the  sien  gathered  im- 
mortalising fruits  or  seeds,  either  eating  them 
themselves,  or  giving  them  to  their  favourites 
among  men.  Tradition  tells  also  of  life-giving 
trees  generously  planted  by  such  Genii  on  behalf 
of  mankind,  or  owing  their  wonderful  quality  to 
their  having  been  planted  by  their  immortal  hands. 
Such  trees  were  always  extremely  rare  or  difficult 
to  reach,  growing  in  very  remote  moimtain  recesses 
or  on  inaccessible  heights,  whither  Genii  had 
retired  from  mortal  life.  Nevertheless,  favourites 
of  fortune  occasionally  found  them,  and  thus  could 
eternalise  themselves.  The  fruits  were  distin- 
guished from  the  common  sort  by  their  extraordi- 
nary size.  The  best  of  all  ^few-trees  stood  in  the 
parks  and  groves  of  Si-wang-mu,  a  mystic  queen 
of  the  sien,  living  in  a  paradise  in  the  mysterious 
West,  while  many  specimens,  growing  within  hu- 
man reach,  were  reputedly  produced  from  seeds 
obtained  from  that  region  of  bliss,  and  frequently 
mentioned  and  lauded  in  myth  and  fable. 


Holiness  through  Asceticism         175 


That  ideal  region  of  felicity,  situated  in  the 
Kwun-lun  mountains,  represents  the  primitive 
form  of  a  paradise  for  those  who  attfJinpH  Vinlinp.q.q 
and_divinity.  Tales  about  its  wonders  crop  up 
during  the  Han  dynasty.  Side  by  side  therewith, 
traditions  appear  about  paradisical  islands  in  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  likewise  deemed  to  be  inhabited  by 
sien,  and  full  of  trees,  plants,  and  fountains  all 
bestowing  immortality.  Without  entering  into 
the  particulars  of  those  Elysian  regions,  we  must 
note  the  fact  that  Universism  has  showed  itself 
capable  of  inventing  places  where  saints  might 
spend  their  immortal  lives  in  a  condition  of  perfect 
felicity.  The  independent  development  of  this 
conception  was  stopped^  by  the  introduction  of 
Buddhism,  which  possessed,  likewise  in  the  region 
of  stmset,  a  paradise  of  a  Buddha,  named  Amita 
or  Amitabha. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  WORSHIP  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

A  RELIGION  is  mainly  characterised  by  the 
'^  nature  of  its  gods.  Knowing  the  ground- 
work of  China's  Universistic  system,  we  can  under- 
stand what  the  beings  are  that  from  the  very 
beginning  constituted  its  gods.  Naturally  they 
are  the  various  parts  of  Heaven  and  Earth,  and 
the  principal  forces  or  phenomena  which  work 
therein  and  regulate  the  good  fortimes  of  mankind. 

^/They  are  all  animated  by  the  universal  Yang,  and 
are  accordingly  shen.     The  system  therefore  may 

/  "^be  called  a  polytheistic  Naturism  or  Cosmism. 
But  when  the  deification  of  men  became  common 
-  the  number  of  gods  increased  vastly.  Followers 
of  the  Universistic  discipline  gained  the  Tao  and 
became  shen  or  gods,  or  shen  sien,  "divine  immor- 
tals," in  large  numbers  every  year;  and,  unless 
unnoticed  or  forgotten,  they  remained  objects  of 
worship,  and  have  so  remained  to  this  day.      But 

176 


The  Worship  of  the  Universe        177 


holy  sien  are  not  mentioned  in  the  Classics,  being 
evidently  fruits  of  imagination  of  a  somewhat  later 
time  (of.  p.  139).  They,  accordingly,  occupy  no 
place  in  the  pantheon  of  Confucianism ;  but  other- 
wise the  gods  of  this  system  are  those  of  Univers- 
ism, — the  only  religion  of  ancient  China, — includ- 
ing the  shing  jen  or  saints  of  that  time,  and  the 
souls  of  emperors,  who,  as  will  be  remembered, 
are  likewise  gods. 

Deification  of  man  (anthropotheism)  and  wor- 
ship of  man  (anthropolatry)  are  main  feattu-es  of 
the  Universisticj:e^       but  doubtless  antedate  it. 

Worship  of  Man  after  his  death  may  have  been 
the  oldest  religion  of  the  human  race.  It  certainly 
prevailed  in  eastern  Asia  before  the  rise  of  other 
gods.  It  is  mentioned  in  the  classical  and  other 
writings  of  China  so  often,  and  in  such  detail,  that 
it  must  have  been  the  core  of  the  ancient  faith. 
It  was  a  natural  and  logical  continuation  of  the 
worship  of  the  living — in  the  first  place,  of  fathers 
and  mothers,  the  highest  authorities  in  family 
life  according  to  the  Order  of  the  World  itself. 
A  strong  patriarchal  system  has  always  prevailed 
in  China.  It  places  the  child  under  the  absolute 
authority  of  its  father  and  mother,  so  that  it  has 


178   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


7 


to  pay  to  both  the  utmost  amount  of  respect, 
obedience,  and  subjection,  which  is  called  hiao. 
It  forbids  children  ever  to  withdraw  from  that 
authority,  whatever  their  age  may  be — a  law  that 
renders  separation  from  the  family  stock  excep- 
tional. Thus  it  is  that  any  family  after  a  few 
generations  may  develop  into  a  clan,  in  which 
the  patriarch  or  the  matriarch  naturally  commands 
the  highest  authority,  and  hiao  or  submissive 
respect.  And,  just  as  naturally,  this  hiao  is  con- 
verted into  worship  of  elders  when  they  are  dead, — 
a  worship  paid  to  all,  by  all  the  offspring. 

In  the  first  place,  accordingly,  worship  of  the 
dead  in  China  is  worship  of  ancestors.  It  signifies 
that  family  ties  are  by  no  means  broken  by  death, 
and  that  the  dead  continue  to  exercise  their  author- 
ity and  to  afford  their  protection.  The  ancestors 
are  the  natural  patron  divinities  of  the  Chinese 
people,  their  household  gods,  protecting  against 
the  work  of  devils,  and  thus  creating  felicity. 
Their  worship,  being  a  natural  religion,  has  natur- 
ally maintained  its  place  in  the  system  of  Univers- 
ism,  the  supreme  idea  of  which  is  man's  living  in 
perfect  harmony  with  nature.  The  pre-eminent 
position  of  this  worship  in  the  life  of  the  peoples 


The  Worship  of  the  Universe        179 


of  the  far  East  is  obvious.  One  readily  perceives 
that  it  was  predestined  to  coalesce  with  the  Uni- 
versistic  doctrines  of  the  holiness  and  divinity  of 
Man,  and  to  become  an  integral  part  of  Univers-  y 
ism,  as  certainly  as  Man  himself  and  his  soul  are 
integral  parts  of  the  Universe.  At  the  same  time, 
being  mentioned,  prescribed,  and  lauded  in  the 
Classics,  it  is  an  integral  part  of  the  Confucian 
State  Religion,  so  that  the  identity  of  this  religion 
with  Taoism  once  more  comes  to  the  foreground. 
Since  the  deification  of  man  consists  in  his 
assimilation  with  the  Tao  of  Heaven,  divine  men 
were  believed  to  dwell  in  the  heavenly  sphere, 
round  the  throne  of  the  highest  god,  namely. 
Heaven  itself,  occurring  in  the  ancient  Classics 
as  Shang-ti^OT  "Highest  Emperor."  His  throne 
is  the  polar  star,  around  which  the  Universe  re- 
volves; it  is  surrounded  by  other  gods  of  Nature, 
the  sun  and  moon,  stars  and  constellations,  winds 
and  clouds,  thunder  and  rain, — all,  when  depicted 
in  human  shape,  in  attitudes  of  the  greatest  de- 
corum and  stateliness.  Indeed,  inaction,  placidity, 
stillness,  being  the  qualities  of  the  Order  of  the 
World,  are  also  those  of  the  beings  who  constitute 
that  Order,  and  of  the  men  who  obtained  divinity 


v^ 


i8o  Development  of  Religion  in  China 


by  making  those  qualities  their  own.     There  is, 
,  accordingly,  on  the  Parnassus  of  Universism  no 
V   room  for  rude  or  energetic  action,  nor  for  savagery, 
war,  or  any  bloody  work.     But  below,  in  the  world 
s^/    inhabited  by  the  human  race,  there  is  a  large  army 
of  /'  ien  ping,  "celestial  warriors,"  under  the  com- 
mand   of    thirty-six    divine    generals,    fighting, 
wherever  it  is  necessary  or  useful,  the  kwei  or  devils 
in  behalf  of  human  happiness.     They  are  even 
summoned  by  the  priests  to  perform  this  salutary 
work  at  religious  feasts  and  during  epidemics,  so 
that  they  are  the  principal  magical  instruments, 
in  sacerdotal  hands,  for  the  promotion  of  human 
felicity. 

The  people  of  China  are  not  addicted  to  theo- 
'  logical  study,  and  have  small  knowledge  of  gods. 
There  are  works  of  fiction  describing  feats  of  the 
gods  on  high  and  on  this  earth,  as  also  their  dis- 
cussion of  the  actions  and  conduct  of  rulers  and 
men,  and  of  philosophical  and  non-philosophical 
topics,  such  as  may  be  expected  to  interest  and 
entertain  men  of  education  in  their  leisure  hours. 
As  a  rule,  however,  gods  are  known  by  name 
among  the  people  for  no  other  reason  than  that 
they  have  their  temples  and  religious  festivals. 


The  Worship  of  the  Universe        i8i 


Of  many  gods  the  worship  is  confined  within  the 
few  existing  Taoist  monasteries. 

Highest  among  the  Taoist  gods  are  the  parts 
and  forces  of  the  Universe.  Chaos,  before  it 
divided  itself  into  the  Yang  and  the  Yin,  occupies 
the  principal  place  in  the  pantheon  under  the  v 
name  of  Pwan-ku.  The  deified  Yang,  the  tmi-  \/ 
versal  warmth  and  light,  is  named  Tung-wang- 
kimg  or  ''Royal  Father  of  the  East,*'  and  as  such 
he  holds  sway  in  a  kind  of  paradise  in  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  The  deified  Yin,  the  universal  cold  and  \/^ 
darkness,  is  his  consort,  Si-wang-mu,  the  "Royal 
Mother  of  the  West"  (see  p.  173),  who  wields  the 
sceptre  in  the  Kwim-lun  paradise  over  myriads  of 
sien.  A  few  very  worthy  emperors  of  this  earth  are 
stated  to  have  visited  her,  and  have  even  been  called 
upon  by  her.  Naturally,  the  beauties  of  her  paradise 
have  been  enthusiastically  described  by  many  au- 
thors, with  even  more  detail  than  any  earthly  land. 

The  place  which  in  the  ranks  of  the  gods  follows 
that  of  the  Yang  and  the  Yin,  was  respectfully 
alloted  by  theogonists  to  Lao-tszS,  the  saint  who 
endowed  mankind  with  the  Tao  teh  king,  the  first 
book  that  instructed  men  about  immortality  and 
divinity  by  the  discipline  of  the  breath  and  by  the 


1 82    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


imitation  of  the  virtues  of  the  Tao.  This  im- 
mortal man  lived  on  earth  several  times,  and  even 
existed  before  Heaven  and  Earth  separated.  He 
is  lord  of  the  gates  of  the  celestial  paradise,  to 
which  cultivation  of  the  Tao  gives  access. 

As  early  as  the  time  of  the  Han  dynasty,  Taoism, 
as  has  been  pointed  out,  had  grown  to  be  an  actual 
religion  with  a  pantheon,  with  doctrines  of  sanc- 
tity, with  ethics  calculated  to  reach  sanctity,  with 
votaries,  hermits  and  saints,  teachers  and  pupils. 
We  have  seen  that  its  votaries  organised  them- 
selves into  religious  commimities.  The  process 
of  evolution  even  transformed  the  religion  in  that 
epoch  into  a  disdplined  church.  This  transforma- 
tion is  inseparably  cmmected  with  the  name  of 
Chang  Ling  or  Chaii£Tao-ling. 

To  this  day,  this  saint  is  described  as  a  miracle- 
worker  of  the  highest  order,  as  a  distiller  of  elixir 
of  life,  as  a  first-rate  exorcist,  as  a  god-man  who 
commanded  spirits  and  gods.  He  personifies  the 
transformation  of  Taoist  ancient  principle  and 
doctrine  into  a  religion  with  magic,  priesthood, 
and  pontificate,  under  the  auspices  of  Lao-tsze 
himself,  who,  appearing  to  him,  commissioned  him 
to  establish  that  great  organisation.     In  obedience 


The  Worship  of  the  Universe        183 


to  this  patriarch,  he  transmitted  his  mission  to 
his  descendants,  who  reside  to  the  present  day,  as 
legal  heads  of  the  Church,  in  the  province  of 
Kiangsi,  in  the  same  place  in  the  Kwei-khi  district 
where  Chang  Ling  prepared  his  elixir  of  life,  and 
flew  up  to  the  azure  sky. 

History  and  myth  teach  us  that  in  the  second 
century  of  our  era  this  remarkable  man  foimded, 
in  the  province  of  Sze-chwen,  a  semi-clerical  state, 
with  a  system  of  taxation,  and  with  a  religious 
discipline,  based  on  self-humiliation  before  the 
higher  powers,  and  on  confession  of  sins.  This 
state  was  afterwards  ruled  by  his  son,  Chang  Heng, 
of  whom  history  has  nothing  to  tell,  and  subse- 
quently by  his  grandson,  Chang  Lu,  of  whom 
history  tells  much.  This  priestly  potentate  ex- 
tended his  sway  also  over  the  Shensi  province. 
The  legions  of  devils,  the  great  element  in  the 
Order  of  the  Universe  as  ministers  of  punishment, 
played  a  prominent  part  in  that  state.  Seclusion 
and  asceticism  were  greatly  encouraged,  as  were 
benevolence,  and  confession  of  sins  before  the  gods. 
Bodily  pimishment  was  abolished,  while  in  the 
restriction  imposed  on  the  slaughter  of  animals 
we  may  probably  discern  Buddhist  influence. 


1 84   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


Besides  Chang  Lu,  two  Taoist  apostles  of  the 
same  surname,  Chang  Siu  and  Chang  Kioh,  were 
engaged  in  the  work  of  conversion  and  ecclesiasti- 
cal organisation.  The  religious  kingdom  of  Chang 
Siu  was  absorbed  by  that  of  Chang  Lu.  The 
T'ai  pHng  religion,  i.e.,  that  of  "Universal  Pacifi- 
cation," of  which  Chang  Kioh  was  the  high  priest, 
had  a  tragic  end.  In  a.d.  184,  a  perfidious  apos- 
tate accused  him  and  his  Church  of  plotting 
rebellion.  A  bloody  persecution  broke  out  im- 
mediately, compelling  the  reHgionists  to  rise  in 
self-defence.  This  the  government,  of  course, 
called  rebellion;  it  was  smothered  in  streams  of 
blood.  Still,  as  late  as  the  year  207  of  our  era,  the 
histories  of  the  Han  Dynasty  make  mention  of 
the  existence  of  these  so-called  Yellow  Turbans, 
a  proof  of  the  great  tenacity  of  that  religion,  and 
a  proof  also  that  the  carnage  continued  for  a  long 
time. 

The  church  of  Chang  Lu  in  SzS  chwen  and 
Shensi  escaped  destruction,  for  he  sagaciously 
and  seasonably  submitted  himself  to  the  final 
destroyer  of  the  house  of  Han,  Ts'ao  Ts*ao,  who 
founded  the  Wei  dynasty.  This  occurred  in  the 
year  215  of  our  era.     Chang  Lu  was  then  endowed 


The  Worship  of  the  Universe        185 


with  high  titles  of  honour,  and  thus  became,  next 
to  his  grandfather,  the  glorious  patriarch  of  the 
Chang  family.  But  for  him,  the  pontificate  would 
not  exist  at  this  day. 

Taoist  monastic  life  was  devoted  to  the  silent 
cultivation  of  divinity  and  immortality  by  means 
of  the  ascetic  discipline,  which  I  have  described, 
combined  with  constant  propitiation  of  gods  and 
goddesses  by  sacrifices  and  worship,  and  with 
exorcism  of  evil  spirits.  This  monasticism  has, 
however,  never  assumed  large  dimensions,  nor 
taken  deep  root  in  the  country ;  Buddhist  competi- 
tion was  too  keen  for  that.  Its  development  was 
no  less  hampered  by  Confucian  enmity,  of  which 
the  government  was  the  instrument.  At  this  day, 
only  a  few  Taoist  monasteries  of  considerable  size 
and  significance  exist.  The  tao  shi  or  Taoist 
doctors  lived  in  society,  in  ordinary  houses,  mar- 
rying like  other  men,  and  rearing  families.  They 
have  always  been  sacerdotal  servants  of  the  people, 
performing,  for  pecuniary  compensation,  magical 
religious  ceremonies;  indeed,  as  will  be  recalled, 
the  great  Taoist  and  Confucian  teachers  have 
declared  most  explicitly  that  men  who  possess 
the  Tao  possess  also  miraculous  powers,  and  that 


1 86   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


they  are  gods  or  shen  of  the  same  kind  as  those 
who  constitute  the  Yang  of  the  Tao. 

Of  those  powers,  none  is  so  useful  as  that  by 
which  evil  spirits  are  cast  out  or  destroyed,  and 
whereby,  accordingly,  mankind  is  saved  from 
disease,  plague,  and  drought.  It  is  the  Taoist 
doctor  or  priest  who  possesses  this  power  in  larger 
or  smaller  measure,  according  to  his  attainments 
in  the  Tao.  He  is  therefore  a  devil-expelling 
physician;  he  may  quench  conflagrations  at  a 
distance,  stop  swollen  rivers  and  inimdations, 
produce  fogs  and  rains ;  to  these  and  other  ends  he 
may  command  the  gods.  Magic  has  always  been 
the  central  nerve  of  the  Taoist  religion,  and  it  has 
always  determined  the  fimctions  of  its  priesthood. 
It  runs  as  a  main  artery  through  a  most  extensive 
ritualism  of  ceremonial,  aiming  at  the  promotion 
of  human  felicity  mainly  by  the  destruction  of  evil 
spirits,  combined  with  propitiation  of  gods.  It 
works  especially  through  charms  and  spells,  the 
power  of  which  is  believed  to  be  unlimited.  By 
means  of  charms  and  spells  gods  are  ordered  to  do 
whatever  the  priests  desire,  and  demons  and  their 
work  are  dispelled  and  destroyed;  in  fact,  those 
magical  writings  and  words  express  orders  from 


The  Worship  of  the  Universe        187 


Lao-tsze  and  other  powerful  saints  or  gods. 
Wherever  calamities  are  to  be  averted,  or  felicity 
is  to  be  established,  a  temporary  altar  is  erected 
by  the  priests,  adorned  with  portraits  of  a  great 
number  of  gods,  with  flowers  and  incense  burners ; 
and  sacrificial  food  and  drink  are  set  out  thereon. 
The  gods,  attracted  by  the  fragrant  smoke  and 
the  savoury  smell,  are  called  down  into  those 
portraits  by  means  of  charms,  which,  being  burned, 
reach  them  through  the  flames  and  the  smoke; 
and  then  by  the  same  magic,  connected  with  invo- 
cations and  prayers,  they  are  prevailed  upon  to 
remove  the  calamity.  Thus  it  is  that  the  gods  of 
rain  and  thunder  send  down  fructifying  water, 
needed  for  agriculture,  and  stop  their  showers  in 
seasons  of  excessive  moisture.  Thus  river-gods 
are  forced  to  withdraw  their  destructive  floods, 
and  gods  of  fire  are  prevailed  upon  to  quench  con- 
flagrations. Thus,  again,  in  times  of  epidemic  or 
drought,  the  devils  which  cause  these  calamities 
are  routed  with  the  help  of  gods. 

This  magical  cult  of  the  Universe,  that  is,  the 
cult  of  the  gods  who  are  parts  or  manifestations 
of  the  universal  Yang — this  religion,  sacrificial, 
exorcising,    ritualistic — is    practised    in    temples 


1 88    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


which  the  people  have  erected  by  thousands 
throughout  the  empire,  nominally  consecrating 
each  to  one  god,  but  filling  it  with  images  and 
altars  of  many  more.  Myriads  of  images  thus  stud 
the  Chinese  Empire,  and  make  it  the  principal 
idolatrous  and  fetish-worshipping  country  in  the 
world. 

For  the  exercise  of  their  magical  religion  learned 
Taoists  have,  in  the  course  of  ages,  invented  numer- 
ous systems.  Only  a  limited  number  of  these  are 
practically  in  use.  The  systems  differ  from  one 
another  in  the  first  place  according  to  the  gods 
employed ;  but  among  these  gods  those  of  thunder 
and  lightning,  the  devil-destroying  instruments 
of  heaven,  are  always  prominent;  they  generally 
fight  the  host  of  devils  in  close  alliance  with  the 
thirty-six  generals  of  the  celestial  armies  which 
I  have  mentioned  (p.  i8o).  These  systems  have 
been  carefully  printed  and  published  for  the  benefit 
of  the  htunan  race.  They  were  bound  up  with  the 
great  Taoist  canon,  published  under  imperial 
patronage  in  1598,  which  contains  probably  be- 
tween three  and  four  thousand  volumes.  A  copy 
of  this  enormous  compendium — the  only  one,  I 
believe,   outside   China — is  in   the   Bibliotheque 


The  Worship  of  the  Universe        189 


Nationale  in  Paris ;  but  it  is  in  a  fragmentary  state, 
which  is  the  more  deplorable,  seeing  that  it  is  highly 
doubtf td  whether  it  will  ever  be  possible  to  find  a 
complete  copy  in  China. 

The  conclusion  to  be  drawn  from  the  history  of 
the  development  of  the  Taoist  reHgion  is  that,  in 
spite  of  its  sublime  Universistic  principle,  it  has 
not  been  able  to  rise  above  idolatry,  polytheism, 
polydemonism,  and  anthropotheism,  but  has,  on 
the  contrary,  systematically  developed  all  these 
branches  of  the  great  tree  of  Asiatic  paganism. 
The  same  judgment  must  be  pronoimced  with 
respect  to  the  branch  of  Universism  which  we  call 
Confucianism.  It  will  be  remembered  that  this 
was  created  a  State  ReHgion  by  the  House  of  Han, 
in  the  same  period  when  the  Church  of  Lao-tsz§ 
and  Chang  Ling  arose  and  flourished,  and  further, 
that  it  was  based  exclusively  on  the  contents  of 
the  ancient  Classics.  Its  gods,  accordingly,  are 
those  whose  names  and  worship  are  described  or 
mentioned  in  those  holy  books;  and  since  these 
books  are  Universistic,  those  gods  are  parts  of  the 
Universe,  or  powers  which  manifest  themselves 
in  the  same. 

The  Pantheon  of  Confucianism  contains,  as  the 


190   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


highest  gods,  Heaven  and  Earth,  the  chief  embodi- 
ments or  representatives  of  the  Yang  and  the  Yin. 
Heaven  is  the  higher  of  the  two.  It  is  the  father 
of  the  emperor,  who  styles  hirnself  the  Son  of 
Heaven;  it  is  the  natural  protector  of  his  throne, 
of  his  dynasty,  and  of  his  house,  which  would  all 
be  inevitably  destroyed  if,  by  bad  conduct,  he 
should  forfeit  Heaven's  favour.  Since  the  em- 
peror is  the  medium  by  which  the  blessings  of 
Heaven  and  its  Tao  are  dispensed  on  Earth 
(p.  114),  it  is  self-evident  that  he  is  also  the  High 
Priest  of  the  State  Religion. 

Heaven  bears  in  this  religion  its  old  classical 
names  Tien  or  "Heaven,"  and  Ti,  ** Emperor," 
or  Shang-ti,  "Supreme  Emperor."  The  most 
important  sacrifice  which  is  offered  to  this  divinity 
takes  place  on  the  night  of  the  winter  solstice, 
that  significant  moment  in  the  Order  of  the  World 
when  Heaven's  beneficent  influence,  represented 
by  the  Yang,  which  is  light  and  warmth,  begins 
to  grow  after  having  descended  to  its  lowest  point. 
The  sacrifice  is  presented  on  the  yuen  khiu  or 
"Round  Eminence,"  also  known  as  t'ien  tan  or 
"Altar  of  Heaven,"  which  stands  to  the  south  of 
the  Tartar  City  of  Peking,  the  south  being  in  par- 


The  Worship  of  the  Universe        igt 


ticular  the  region  of  the  Yang.  This  enormous 
altar,  quite  open  to  the  sky,  is  composed  of  three 
circular  marble  terraces  of  different  dimensions, 
placed  one  above  the  other,  all  provided  with 
marble  balustrades,  and  accessible  by  stairways, 
which  exactly  face  the  four  chief  points  of  the 
compass.  On  the  north  and  east  sides  there  are 
buildings  for  various  purposes.  A  wide  area, 
partly  converted  into  a  park  with  gigantic  trees, 
lies  aroimd  this  altar,  which  is  the  greatest  in  the 
world.  This  area  is  surrounded  by  a  high  wall, 
affording  room  for  a  town  of  about  forty  thousand 
or  fifty  thousand  inhabitants. 

On  the  longest  night  of  the  year  the  emperor 
proceeds  to  the  altar,  escorted  by  princes,  grandees, 
officers,  troops,  to  the  number  of  many  hundred; 
and  many  more  assemble  on  the  altar,  to  receive 
Heaven's  son.  Everybody  is  in  the  richest  cere- 
monial dress.  The  spectacle  in  the  scanty  light 
of  large  torches  is  most  imposing.  Every  magnate, 
minister,  and  mandarin  has  his  assigned  place  on 
the  altar  and  its  terraces,  or  on  the  marble  pave- 
ment which  surrounds  it.  On  the  upper  terrace, 
a  large  perpendicular  tablet,  inscribed  ''Imperial 
Heaven,  Supreme  Emperor,"  stands  in  a  shrine  on 


192    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


the  north  side,  and  faces  due  south.  In  two  rows, 
facing  east  and  west,  are  shrines  which  contain 
tablets  of  the  ancestors  of  the  emperor ;  which  fact 
is  significant,  because  it  shows  that  the  Son  of 
Heaven  worships  Heaven  as  the  oldest  procreator 
of  his  House.  Before  each  tablet  various  foods 
are  placed,  soup,  meat,  fish,  dates,  chestnuts,  rice, 
vegetables,  spirits,  etc.,  all  conformably  to  ancient 
classical  precedent  and  tradition.  On  the  second 
terrace  are  tablets  for  the  spirits  of  the  sim,  the 
moon,  the  Great  Bear,  the  five  planets,  the  twenty- 
eight  principal  constellations,  the  host  of  the  stars, 
and  the  gods  of  winds,  clouds,  rain  and  thunder. 
Before  these  tablets  are  dishes  and  baskets  with 
sacrificial  articles.  Cows,  goats,  and  swine  have 
been  slaughtered  for  all  those  offerings ;  and  during 
the  solemnities,  a  bullock  or  heifer  is  burning  on  a 
pyre,  as  a  special  offering  to  high  Heaven. 

The  emperor,  who  has  purified  himself  for  the 
solemnity  by  fasting,  is  led  up  the  altar  by  the 
southern  flight  of  steps,  which  on  both  sides  is 
crowded  by  dignitaries.  Directors  of  the  cere- 
monies guide  him,  and  loudly  proclaim  every  act 
or  rite  which  he  has  to  perform.  The  spirit  of 
Heaven  is  invited,  by  means  of  a  hymn  accom- 


The  Worship  of  the  Universe        193 


panied  by  sacred  music,  to  descend  and  to  settle 
in  its  tablet.  Before  the  tablet,  and  subsequently 
before  those  of  his  ancestors,  the  emperor  offers 
incense,  jade,  silk,  broth,  and  rice-spirits.  He 
humbly  kneels  and  knocks  his  forehead  against 
the  pavement  several  times.  A  grandee  reads  a 
prayer  in  a  loud  voice,  and  several  officials,  ap- 
pointed for  the  duty,  offer  incense,  silk,  and  spirits 
on  the  second  terrace  to  the  sun,  moon,  stars, 
clouds,  rain,  wind  and  thimder.  Finally,  the 
sacrificial  gifts  are  carried  away,  thrown  into 
furnaces  and  burned. 

This  imperial  sacrifice  is  probably  the  most 
pompous  worship  which  has  ever  been  paid  on 
earth  to  Heaven  and  its  several  parts.  It  is  also 
interesting  for  its  remarkable  antiquity.  It  is  at- 
tended by  a  large  body  of  musicians  and  religious 
dancers,  who  perform  at  every  significant  moment. 

In  the  same  vast  park  there  is,  to  the  north  of 
the  Round  Eminence,  another  altar  of  the  same 
form,  but  of  smaller  dimensions.  It  bears  a  large 
circular  building  with  high  dome  or  cupola;  this 
is  the  ki  nien  tien  or  "Temple  where  prayers  are 
offered  for  a  good  year,"  that  is,  for  an  abimdant 
harvest  throughout  the  empire.     Here  a  solemn 

Z3 


194   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


sacrifice  is  offered  by  the  emperor  to  Heaven  and 
his  ancestors,  in  the  first  decade  of  the  first  month 
of  the  year.  To  obtain  seasonable  rains  for  the 
crops,  a  sacrifice  is  presented  in  this  same  build- 
ing in  the  first  month  of  the  summer  to  the  same 
tablets,  as  also  to  those  of  rain,  thunder,  clouds, 
and  winds.  This  ceremony  is  repeated  if  rains  do 
not  fall  in  due  time  or  not  copiously  enough. 
These  sacrifices  are  performed  mostly  by  princes 
or  ministers,  as  proxies  of  the  Son  of  Heaven. 

The  ritual  for  all  state  sacrifices  is  similar  to 
that  for  Heaven.  Pomp,  show,  and  offerings  vary 
with  the  ranks  of  the  gods,  as  does  the  number  of 
officials  in  the  suite  of  the  celebrant. 

Next  to  Heaven  in  the  series  of  state-divinities 

Iis  Earth,  officially  called  Heu  fu  or  "Empress 
Earth.*'  Her  altar  of  marble  is  square,  because 
it  is  stated  in  the  Yih  king  that  the  Earth  is  square. 
It  is  open  to  the  sky,  and  is  situated  within  a  vast, 
walled  square  park  outside  the  northern  wall  of 
Peking,  because  in  the  Universistic  system  the 
Earth  represents  the  Yin,  which  is  the  northern 
region  of  cold  and  darkness.  On  this  altar  a 
solemn  sacrifice  is  offered  by  the  emperor  or  his 
proxy  on  the  day  of  the  summer  solstice,  which  is 


The  Worship  of  the  Universe        195 


the  moment  in  the  annual  revolution  of  the  Tao 
or  Order  of  the  World  when  the  earth  is  at  the 
height  of  its  animation,  owing  to  the  fructifying 
power  of  Heaven.  Here,  too,  the  tablets  of  the 
ancestors  of  the  emperor  are  placed  to  the  right 
and  left  of  that  of  the  Earth.  On  the  second  ter- 
race sacrifices  are  on  the  same  occasion  offered  to 
the  tablets  of  the  principal  components  of  the 
Earth,  viz.,  the  chief  mountains,  rivers,  and  seas. 
From  the  fact  that  the  emperor,  in  performing 
the  sacrifices  to  Heaven  and  Earth,  allots  the 
second  place  to  the  tablets  of  his  ancestors,  it 
follows  that  they  stand  in  the  system  of  the  State 
Religion  next  to  Heaven  and  Earth  in  rank.  Sol- 
emn sacrifices  are  offered  to  them  by  the  emperor 
in  the  t'ai  miao,  the  "Grand  Temple"  within  the 
palace  grounds  of  the  south-east,  and  at  their 
mausoleums,  in  temples  erected  there,  one  in  front 
pf  each  grave-hill. 

/  Next  in  rank,  in  the  pantheon  of  the  State,  to 
the  imperial  ancestors  are  the  Sie  Tsih  or  "Gods 
of  the  Ground  and  the  Millet  or  Com"  which  the 
ground  produces.  These  divinities  have  their 
common  altar,  square  and  open  to  the  sky,  in  a 
large  park  to  the  west  of  the  Grand  Temple.     The 


196   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


emperor  sacrifices  there  in  the  second  month  of 
the  spring  and  autumn,  or  sends  his  proxy  to 
perform  this  high-priestly  duty.  This  vernal 
y  sacrifice  is  accompanied  by  prayers  for  the  harvest, 
and  the  autumnal  one  by  thanksgiving.  On  the 
same  days  a  sacrifice  is  offered  on  an  open  altar 
of  the  same  kind  in  the  chief  city  of  every  pro- 
vince, department,  and  district  by  the  highest 
local  authorities. 

.  These  are  the  so-called  ta  sze  or  "superior 
l/" sacrifices."  Next  in  rank  are  those  of  the  second 
category,  the  chung  sze  or  "middle  sacrifices." 
These  are  presented  on  various  altars  or  temples 
erected  in  or  about  Peking  and  in  the  provinces. 
The  Sun-god  has  his  large  walled  park  with  a 
round,  open  altar-terrace,  outside  the  main  east 
gate  of  Peking,  to  the  region  of  sunrise.  The 
Moon-goddess  has  her  square  altar  outside  the  west 
gate,  because  the  west  is  the  region  from  which 
the  new  moon  is  bom.  A  sacrifice  is  offered  there 
to  the  sun  by  the  emperor  or  his  proxy  at  sunrise 
at  the  astronomical  mid-spring,  when  the  days 
will  be  longer  than  the  nights,  that  is  to  say,  when 
the  sun  conquers  darkness.  The  Moon  receives 
her  sacrifice  at  sunset  on  the  day  of  mid-autumn, 


The  Worship  of  the  Universe        197 


autumn  being  in  China's  natural  philosophy  as- 
sociated with  the  west,  where  the  new  moonlight 
is  bom. 

The  other  state-gods  of  this  middle  class  are 
the  famous  men  of  fabulous  antiquity  who  intro- 
duced the  Tao  among  men,  thus  conferring  on  them 
the  blessings  of  civilisation,  learning,  and  ethics ; 
namely : 
^  Shen-ntmg,  the  "Divine  Husbandman,**  em- 
peror in  the  28th  century  B.C.,  who  taught  people 
husbandry  for  the  first  time.  He  is  worshipped 
by  the  emperor  in  person,  or  by  his  proxy,  with  a 
sacrifice  on  an  auspicious  day  in  the  second  month 
of  the  spring,  when  the  labours  of  husbandry  are 
supposed  to  begin.  This  rite  is  performed  on  an 
open  square  altar,  in  a  walled  park,  situated  west 
of  the  great  Altar  of  Heaven,  and  is  followed  by 
the  well-known  classical  ceremony,  by  which  the 
emperor,  ploughing  with  his  own  hand,  inaugu- 
rates the  husbandry  of  that  year.  A  similar  altar 
exists  in  or  near  the  capital  of  every  province, 
department,  and  district,  and  on  the  same  day  the 
highest  local  authorities  offer  a  sacrifice  there, 
followed  by  the  ploughing  ceremony. 

Sien-ts'an,  the  "First  Breeder  of  Silkworms,'* 


198   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


supposed  to  have  been  the  consort  of  the  emperor 
Hwang-ti  in  the  27th  century  B.C.  In  the  first 
month  of  spring  the  empress,  followed  by  a  great 
train  of  court  ladies,  sacrifices  to  this  state-goddess, 
to  whom  mankind  is  indebted  for  its  clothing 
material,  on  an  altar  in  the  palace  park,  near  the 
northern  comer  of  the  great  lake  called  Peh-hai 
or  north  lake. 

One  hundred  and  eighty-eight  rulers  of  former 
dynasties,  beginning  with  the  emperors  of  the 
oldest  mythical  period,  Fuh-hi,  Shen-nung,  Hwang- 
ti,  Yao  and  Shun.  They  are  worshipped  on  a 
felicitous  day  in  the  month  of  mid-spring  and  that 
of  mid-autumn,  either  by  the  emperor  himself, 
or  by  a  proxy,  in  a  beautiful  temple  which  stands 
in  the  Tartar  city,  west  of  the  palace.  And  when- 
ever the  Son  of  Heaven  travels  past  the  grave  of 
any  of  these  worthies,  he  there  offers  a  sacrifice. 
The  aforesaid  five  emperors  of  the  oldest  mythical 
period,  as  also  the  founders  of  the  dynasties  of  Hia, 
Shang,  and  Cheu,  with  the  son  and  brother  of  the 
founder  of  the  last-named  house,  and  Confucius, 
receive  special  imperial  worship,  either  from  the 
Son  of  Heaven  himself  or  from  a  proxy,  in  the 
Ch'wensin  hall,  situated  in  the  eastern  division 


The  Worship  of  the  Universe        199 


of  the  inner  palace.  All  those  worshipped  beings 
are  (like  all  good  emperors)  saints  or  gods  in  the 
Taoist  Confucian  sense.  It  is  not  strange,  there- 
fore, that  the  holiest  man  that  ever  lived,  Con- 
fucius,  is  an  object  of  quite  particular  veneration 
in  the  system  of  the  State  Religion. 
/^  He,  his  nearest  ancestors,  and  over  seventy 
earlier  and  later  exponents  of  his  doctrine  and 
school  have  their  tablets  in  a  temple  in  Peking, 
for  solemn  worship  by  the  mandarins  in  the  second 
month  of  the  spring  and  the  autumn.  Occasion- 
ally, the  emperor  himself  performs  these  great 
services  in  honour  of  this  god,  who,  having  given 
the  Classics  to  the  world,  enables  him  thereby  to 
rule  the  world  in  accordance  with  the  Tao.  The 
temple  is  called  Ta  chHng  tien,  "hall  of  the  most 
perfect  being,"  or  Wen  miao,  '* temple  of  civil 
government,'*  of  which  Confucius  is  the  patron- 
divinity.  Such  a  temple,  called  by  the  same  name, 
exists  also  in  the  chief  city  of  every  province, 
department,  and  district;  and  on  the  same  days 
the  mandarins,  under  the  presidency  of  the  high- 
est, offer  a  sacrifice  in  that  building. 
^  State-deities  are,  furthermore,  men  and  women, 
who,   in    the  course   of   centuries,   have   distin- 


200   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


guished  themselves  by  virtue  and  learning.  Four 
>  temples  are  bmlt  for  them  near  every  Confucian 
temple,  respectively,  for  "the  faithful,  righteous, 
filial  and  fraternal";  for  "the  chaste  and  filial," 
namely,  widows  who  refused  to  remarry  and  dis- 
tinguished themselves  by  devotion  to  their  parents- 
in-law;  for  "mandarins  of  reputation";  and  for 
"wise  and  virtuous  persons  who  lived  in  that 
region."  In  the  spring  and  autumn,  as  soon  as 
the  sacrifice  to  Confucius  is  finished,  a  sacrifice 
is  presented  in  those  four  temples  by  one  of  the 
mandarins  assigned  to  the  duty. 
^^^  Very  important  gods  of  the  Universistic  system 
are  the  so-called  Vien  shen,  "Gods  of  the  Sky," 
that  is  to  say,  the  Lord  of  the  Clouds,  the  Lord  of 
Rains,  the  Lord  of  Wind,  and  the  Lord  of  Thunder. 
These,  as  mentioned  above,  are  also  worshipped 
at  the  great  sacrifice  to  Heaven  at  the  winter  sol- 
stice. A  square  altar  in  a  walled  ground  exists 
in  Peking,  for  their  common  worship,  outside  the 
central  south  gate  of  the  Tartar  city  wall.  Sacri- 
fices are  offered  there  by  officers  of  the  Sacrificial 
Department  to  obtain  rain,  whenever,  after  the 
great  sacrifice  for  rain  in  the  ki  nien  lien  (see  p.  193) 
no  rains  descend;  as  also,  to  thank  those  gods 


The  Worship  of  the  Universe        201 


when  rain  has  come;  and  further,  when  the  rain- 
fall is  too  heavy  or  too  continuous,  and  in  winter, 
when  snowfall  is  desired.  It  may  occur  that  the 
emperor  deems  himself  obliged  to  visit  this  altar 
in  person,  in  order  to  offer  the  sacrifice  and  to 
pray  for  rain. 

These  solemn  ceremonies  are,  as  a  rule,  followed 
by  a  sacrifice  on  a  square  altar,  which  is  located 
west  of  that  of  the  Sky-gods  and  devoted  to  the 
worship  of  the  so-called  TH  ki  or  Earth-gods,  who 
L^are  the  chief  mountains,  seas,  and  rivers,  which 
(see  p.  194)  receive  sacrifices  on  the  great  altar 
of  the  Earth  at  the  solstice  of  the  summer.  These 
mountains  are  ten  in  number,  distinguished  as 
the  five  Yohy  and  the  five  Chen.  The  Yoh 
are: 

The  Tung   Yohy  or  Eastern   Yoh,  in  Shantung; 

also  called  the  T'ai  Shan  or  Greatest  Mountain. 
The  Si   Yoh,  or  Western    Yoh,  in  Shensi;  also 

named  Mount  Hwa. 
The  Chung  Yoh,  or  Central  Yoh,  in  Honan;  also 

called  Moimt  Simg. 
The  Nan  Yoh,  or  Southern  Yohy  in  Himan;  also 

called  Motmt  Heng. 


202   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


The  Peh  Yoh,  or  Northern  Yoh,  in  Chihli;  also 

called  Mount  Hing. 

The  Chen  are  the  following : 
The  Eastern,  in  Shantung,  also  named  Mount  I. 
The  Western,  in  Shensi,  also  named  Mount  Wu. 
The  Central,  in  Nganhwui,  also  named  Moimt 

Hwoh. 
The  Southern,  in  Chehkiang,  also  named  Mount 

Hwui-ki. 
The  Northern,  in  Shingking,  also  named  Mount 

I-wu-lu. 

Other  sacred  mountains,  objects  of  state- worship, 
are  five  hills  and  ranges  which  dominate  the  site 
of  the  mausoleums  of  the  Imperial  House,  and 
their  fung  shut.  The  seas  belonging  to  the  T^i  ki 
are  the  oceans  on  the  four  sides  of  the  empire  or 
earth;  and  the  rivers  are  the  Hwangho,  the  Yangt- 
szS,  the  Hwai,  and  the  Tsi.  The  mountains  and 
streams  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Peking  and 
elsewhere  within  the  empire  are  also  included  in 
this  category  of  gods. 

The  Gods  of  the  Sky  have  a  state-temple  for 
their  common  worship  in  the  chief  city  of  every 
province,  department,  and  district.     This  building 


The  Worship  of  the  Universe        203 


serves  also  for  the  worship  of  the  mountains,  hills, 
and  waters  in  that  subdivision  of  the  empire,  and 
for  the  worship  of  the  tutelary  god  of  the  city- 
walls.  It  is  an  official  duty  of  the  local  mandarin- 
ate,  both  civil  and  miHtary,  to  present  there  a 
sacrifice  in  the  month  of  mid-spring  and  in  that 
of  mid-autumn. 

It  is  also  a  rule  that  the  emperor  shall  sacrifice 
in  person  to  any  Yoh  whenever  he  visits  the  region 
where  it  is  situated,  and  that,  if  he  travels  past  a 
Chefiy  he  must  send  a  mandarin  thither  to  present 
a  sacrifice;  and  at  any  great  river  which  he  has 
to  cross,  he  must  worship  the  stream  with  incense 
at  an  altar  erected  for  the  purpose  on  the  bank. 
^  The  official  worship  of  mountains  and  waters 
has  attained  great  dimensions  in  China.  On  the 
occurrence  of  any  event  which  brings  good  fortune 
to  the  dynasty,  local  officers  are  despatched  to 
sacrifice  to  all  the  Yoh  and  the  Chen,  as  also  to  the 
following  gods:  The  Long  White  Moimtains  in 
Kirim ;  the  Eastern  ocean  in  Yih,  in  the  department 
of  Lai-cheu-fu  in  Shantung;  the  Western  sea  in 
Yimg-tsi,  chief  city  of  P'u-cheu-fu  on  the  Hwan- 
gho;  the  Southern  Ocean,  at  Canton;  the  North- 
em,  at  Shan-hai-kwan,  at  the  bay  of  Liaotung;  the 


204   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


Sungari  in  Kirin;  the  H  wan  go,  in  Yung-tsi;  the 
Yangtsze,  in  the  capital  of  Sz^chwen;  the  river 
Hwai,  in  T'ang,  in  Honan,  where  it  has  its  sources ; 
and  the  Tsi  in  Tsi-yuen  in  Honan,  at  its  sources. 
Temples  exist  there  for  the  purpose,  but  in  the 
cases  of  the  Western  and  Northern  Ocean,  the 
Hwangho  and  the  Long  White  Range,  the  sacri- 
fices are  offered  at  some  place  where  the  objects 
of  worship  are  in  sight.  The  local  mandarinate 
attends  such  sacrifices,  and  provides  the  victims 
and  other  sacrificial  material;  but  the  incense, 
the  silk  and  the  prayer  each  delegate  brings  with 
him  directly  from  the  emperor  himself. 

In  obedience  to  statutory  rescripts  for  the  State 
Religion,  sacrifices  are  offered,  by  the  local  man- 
darins concerned,  in  the  second  month  of  spring 
and  autumn  to  no  less  than  eighty-six  mountains 
and  rivers  within  the  empire  proper,  or  in  the 
dependencies;  all  these  divinities  are  State-gods 
by  imperial  decree.  Volumes  might  be  filled  with 
historical  and  other  details  of  the  official  wor- 
ship of  mountains  and  waters  in  China,  and  two 
able  works   have  been  written  on  this  subject.' 

» Chavannes,  Le  T'ai-chan,  Paris,  19  lo.  Tschepe,  Der 
T'ai-schan,  1906. 


The  Worship  of  the  Universe        205 


In  this  branch  of  Nature-worship,  East  Asia  does 
not  yield  to  any  people  ancient  or  modem. 
V  The  next  god  of  the  pantheon  of  the  State  is 
T'ai  sui,  "the  Great  Year,"  the  planet  Jupiter, 
whose  revolution  round  the  sun,  in  about  twelve 
years,  is  the  basis  of  the  chronomantic  directions 
of  the  almanac,  which  is  annually  published  by 
the  Son  of  Heaven  in  order  to  instruct  the  world 
as  to  the  days  that  are  suitable  for  the  transaction 
I  of  business.  It  is,  accordingly,  by  this  god  that 
the  human  race  is  enabled  to  adjust  its  actions  to 
the  Tao,  which  is  the  course  of  time,  and  thus  may 
secure  its  happiness  and  prosperity.  The  temple 
for  the  official  worship  of  this  planet  stands  outside 
the  middlemost  gate  of  the  south  wall  of  the  Tartar 
city,  to  the  west;  two  buildings  on  the  left  and 
right  of  its  courtyard  contain  tablets  of  the  Yueh 
tsiang  or  "Commanders  of  the  Months."  Sacri- 
fices are  offered  here  in  the  morning  of  the  day 
before  the  last  day  of  the  year,  and  on  a  fortimate 
day  in  the  first  decade  of  the  first  month,  by  man- 
darins, delegated  for  this  duty.  In  order  to  im- 
plore the  intervention  of  this  great  ruler  of  the  Tao 
of  Man,  an  officer,  attended  by  many  others,  is 
sent  hither  if  there  is  no  rain  after  the  great  rain- 


2o6   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


sacrifice  in  the  summer;  this  grandee  solemnly 
sends  up  his  prayers,  and  when  rain  has  come,  he 
)•*    presents  a  thank-offering. 

\|        The  third  section  of  the  State  Religion  embraces 
J\the  kiiln  sze  or  "Collective  Sacrifices,"  offered, 
''  in  the  emperor's  name,   by  mandarins,   to  the 
following  gods: 

1.  The  Sien  i  or  "Physicians  of  the  past,'* 
patrons  of  human  health,  who  are  the  three  myth- 
ical emperors  Fuh-hi,  Shen-nung,  and  Hwang-ti. 
The  king-hwui-tien  or  "hall  of  illustrious  favours," 
dedicated  to  their  worship,  contains  the  tablets  of 
one  Ku-mang,  a  son  of  Fuh-hi,  and  of  Chuh-yung, 
Fung-heu  and  Lih-muh,  ministers  of  Hwang-ti; 
and  in  the  side  galleries  of  this  building  are 
tablets  of  some  thirty  mythical  and  historical 
physicians. 

2.  Kwan  Yu,  a  warlike  hero  of  the  second  and 
third  centiu-ies  of  our  era.  It  seems  that  official 
divine  titles  were  not  awarded  to  this  god  imtil 
the  Sung  dynasty,  and  that  he  was  not  raised  to 
the  dignity  of  ti  or  emperor  before  the  Wan-lih 
period  (i  573-1 620);  from  that  time  onward  his 
common  designation  has  been  Kwan-ti,  "emperor 
Kwan."    The  lately  deposed   Manchu   dynasty 


The  Worship  of  the  Universe       207 


appointed  him  its  patron  of  war  and  military  mat- 
ters. In  the  second  month  of  spring  and  autumn, 
and  on  the  13th  day  of  the  fifth  month,  his  tablet 
is  worshipped  together  with  those  of  his  great- 
grandfather, grandfather  and  father,  in  a  temple 
which  stands  outside  the  northern  wall  of  the 
imperial  palace,  near  the  mansion  of  the  military 
commander.  There  is  also  a  temple  for  him  in 
the  capital  of  every  province,  department,  and 
district. 

3.  Wen-ch'ang,  one  or  more  stars  of  the  Great 
Bear,  known  in  ancient  literature  as  Sz5-ming, 
*' director  of  fate."  This  stellar  god  is  the  patron 
of  classical  studies  which  make  learned  ministers 
and  officers,  whose  rule  maintains  the  Tao  among 
mankind.  On  the  third  day  of  the  second  month, 
as  also  on  a  fortimate  day  in  the  second  month  of 
the  autumn,  in  the  morning,  a  sacrifice  is  pre- 
sented to  this  god  in  his  temple  at  Peking;  and, 
since  he  is  considered  to  have  lived  on  earth  as  a 
human  being,  such  worship  is  also  paid  to  a  tablet 
of  his  anonymous  ancestors,  placed  in  the  post- 
erior hall  of  his  temple.  On  the  same  dates,  this 
god  is  worshipped  in  the  capital  of  each  province, 
department  and  district. 


2o8   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


4.  Peh'kih-kiiin,  the  ''Ruler  of  the  North  Pole 
of  Heaven,"  worshipped  on  the  emperor's  birth- 
day in  the  Hien-yii  temple,  outside  the  gate  of  the 
northern  wall  of  the  palace. 

5.  Sze-hwo-shen,  "the  God  who  rules  Fire," 
worshipped  on  the  23d  day  of  the  sixth  month,  in 
his  temple  outside  the  same  gate. 

6.  F'ao  shen  or  "Cannon  Gods,"  worshipped 
on  the  first  day  of  the  ninth  month,  at  an  altar 
near  the  Lu-keu  bridge,  by  Generals  or  adjimct 
Generals  of  the  Manchu  forces  and  the  Chinese 
Army,  as  also  in  all  the  artillery  camps  by  the 
chief  ojSicers. 

7.  CKing-hwang-  shen,  "Gods  of  the  Walls  and 
Moats,"  that  is,  the  patron  divinities  of  walled 
cities  and  forts  throughout  the  empire.  On  the 
emperor's  birthday,  as  also  on  an  auspicious  day 
in  the  spring,  a  sacrifice  is  offered  in  the  temple  of 
the  City-god  of  Peking,  which  stands  in  the  south- 
western quarter  of  the  Tartar  city,  near  the  wall. 
In  the  provinces  the  state- worship  of  these  gods 
takes  place  in  the  temples  of  the  Sky-gods,  al- 
though, in  almost  every  walled  town,  the  City- 
god  has  a  special  temple  where  the  people  generally 
worship  him  with  great  zeal. 


The  Worship  of  the  Universe        209 


8.  Tung  Yoh  shen,  the  "God  of  the  Eastern 
Yoh,"  or  Mount  T'ai  (see  p.  199).  In  Peking  he 
has  his  oj0&cial  temple  outside  the  east  gate  of  the 
Tartar  city,  north  of  the  altar  of  the  sun.  A 
sacrifice  is  offered  there  on  the  birthday  of  the 
emperor. 

9.  Four  Lung  or  Dragons,  Gods  of  Rain  and 
Water,  for  whom  official  temples  exist  in  the  en- 
virons of  Peking,  apparently  for  the  regulation  of 
the  fung  shut  of  the  city  and  the  imperial  palace. 
A  sacrifice  is  offered  to  them  all  on  an  auspicious 
day  in  the  second  month  of  the  spring  and  autumn. 

10.  Ma  Tsu  p'o,  the  tutelary  goddess  of  navi- 
gation ;  and  the  Ho  shen  or  River-gods.  They  are 
worshipped  with  a  sacrifice,  on  the  same  day  as 
the  Dragons,  in  a  temple  of  the  imperial  parks. 

11.  To  Heu-t'u  shen,  the  '  *  God  of  the  Soil,  * '  and 
Sze-kung  shen,  the  "God  of  Architecture,"  sacri- 
fices are  offered  on  altars  erected  on  the  site  of 
the  construction,  whenever  any  building  or  digging 
work  is  undertaken. 

12.  Sze-ts'ang  shen,  the  "Gods  of  the  Store- 
houses" in  Peking  and  T*ung-cheu,  are  wor- 
shipped on  an  auspicious  day  in  the  spring  and 
auttmin. 


14 


210   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


!>/  Three  sacrifices  are  to  be  offered  annually  by 
the  authorities  throughout  the  empire,  for  the 
repose  and  refreshment  of  the  souls  of  the  departed 
in  general. 

This  synopsis  of  the  pantheon  reveals  the  fact 
that  the  Confucian  State  Religion  is  worship  of 
the  Universe,  mixed  with  worship  of  men,  who, 
however,  according  to  Chinese  psychological  doc- 
trine, are  themselves  parts  of  the  Universe.  A  study 
of  the  particulars  of  its  ritual,  the  location  and 
construction  of  its  altars  and  temples,  and  the 
annual  dates  of  its  sacrifices,  shows  that  adapta- 
tion to  the  Universe  and  to  its  Course,  which  is  in 
the  main  the  annual  roimd  of  Time,  has  always 
been  its  leading  principle. 

It  is  a  system  of  idolatry,  for  it  represents  the 
gods,  even  Heaven  and  Earth,  by  wooden  tablets 
inscribed  with  their  titles;  and  some  of  them  by 
images  in  human  form.  These  objects  it  holds 
to  be  inhabited  by  the  gods  themselves,  especially 
when,  as  always  occurs  at  sacrifices,  the  spirits  or 
shen  have  been  formally  prayed  to  or  summoned, 
with  or  without  music,  to  descend  and  take  up 
their  abode  therein. 

This  State  Religion,  the  most  refined  system  of 


The  Worship  of  the  Universe        211 


Nature- worship  that  exists,  is  thoroughly  ritual- 
istic. Its  ritual,  based  on  the  Classics,  was  codi- 
fied during  the  Han  dynasty,  and  taken  over  by 
all  later  houses.  It  is  extremely  elaborate,  punc- 
tual, and  solemn;  it  is  the  means  through  which 
the  most  ancient  religious  institutions  of  China 
have  been  preserved  to  this  day.  Its  object  is  to 
influence  the  Universe  by  the  worship  of  the  gods, 
who,  constituting  the  Yang  of  the  Universe,  bestow 
happiness  on  the  emperor,  his  house,  and  his  peo- 
ple. It  is,  in  other  words,  a  system  purporting  to 
ensure  the  good  working  of  the  Tao  or  Universal 
Order,  and  thus,  naturally,  to  frustrate  the  work 
of  the  Yin  and  its  devils.  It  follows  that  the 
exercise  of  this  religion  is  the  highest  duty  of  rulers, 
to  whom  the  Tao  has  assigned  the  task  of  assuring 
its  effectual  operation  among  men.  The  people 
are  not  allowed  to  take  part  in  the  celebration  of 
the  State  Religion ;  but  they  may,  and  must,  erect 
the  altars  and  temples,  and  keep  them  in  good 
repair  at  their  own  cost  and  by  their  own  labour. 
The  only  religion  officially  allowed  to  the  people 
by  the  State  is  the  worship  of  their  own  an- 
cestors, which,  as  I  have  stated,  is  classical  and 
Confucian. 


^ 


212    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


Yet,  as  everywhere  on  earth,  religious  instincts 
in  China  go  their  own  way.  Not  satisfied  with 
the  worship  of  their  ancestors,  the  people  freely 
indulge  in  the  worship  of  Confucian  deities.  In 
villages  and  in  other  localities  they  have  temples 
for  the  worship  of  mountains,  streams,  rocks, 
stones,  etc.  The  God  of  the  Earth  in  particular 
enjoys  much  veneration;  everywhere  the  people 
have  temples,  chapels  or  shrines  where  they  invoke 
and  worship  him  as  the  god  of  wealth  and  agri- 
culture. In  the  chief  cities  of  the  provinces, 
departments,  and  districts,  the  people  are  used  to 
resort  to  certain  State-temples  to  worship  the  gods, 
especially  those  of  the  Walls  and  Moats  and  of 
the  Eastern  Yoh,  who  are  regarded  as  rulers  of 
hell. 

The  people  also  worship  in  the  temples  all  kinds 
of  patron  divinities  whose  origin  it  is  often  difficult 
or  quite  impossible  to  trace.  Most  of  these  are 
generally  thought  to  have  Hved  as  human  beings; 
their  worship,  accordingly,  is  a  worship  of  men 
raised  to  the  rank  of  gods.  There  are  gods  and 
goddesses  for  safety  in  child-bearing;  gods  who 
impart  riches,  or  who,  bestowing  blessing  on 
various  professions,  are  patrons  of  the  callings  of 


The  Worship  of  the  Universe        213 


life;  in  fine,  a  multitude  of  deities  who  bestow 
every  grace  and  favour  because  their  images  are 
shing  or  holy,  or  shen  or  ling,  that  is,  animated  by 
a  shen.  Their  temples  are  daily  frequented  by 
great  numbers  of  pious  worshippers  and  pilgrims. 
Considerable  sums  are  collected  for  enlarging, 
repairing,  and  decorating  these  buildings,  or  for 
celebrating  great  religious  feasts  and  sacrifices. 
The  fame  of  a  god  may  last  for  centuries.  But  it 
may  also  quickly  disappear ;  a  few  prayers  offered 
without  result  will  not  seldom  suffice  to  sap  and 
destroy  his  fame.  And  then,  as  a  result  of  in- 
suring neglect,  image  and  temple  quickly  fall  into 
ruin. 

This  popular  religion  is  practised  throughout 
the  empire.  The  images  of  gods  exist  by  tens  of 
thousands,  the  temples  by  thousands.  Almost 
every  temple  has  idol  gods  which  are  of  co-ordin- 
ate or  subordinate  rank  to  the  chief  god,  or  which 
are  regarded  as  his  servants.  For  the  mountains, 
rocks,  stones,  streams  and  brooks  which  the  people 
worship,  images  in  human  form  are  fashioned,  to 
be  dedicated  to  their  souls,  that  these  may  dwell 
therein ;  and  temples  are  erected  to  them.  Horses, 
camels,  goats,  and  other  animals  of  stone,  standing 


214   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


on  old  tombs,  are  very  commonly  worshipped  and 
invoked;  if  they  have  proved  to  be  actively  ani- 
mated or  "holy,"  the  people  build  temples  or 
chapels  beside  the  spot,  with  or  without  images. 
Here  then  we  have  idolatry  connected  with  animal 
worship.  Tigers,  fishes,  serpents,  etc.,  not  seldom 
have  temples  and  shrines.  This  zoolatry  is,  of 
course,  connected  with  the  belief  in  the  general 
animation  of  the  Universe,  in  consequence  of  which 
animals  may  become  human  beings,  and  human 
beings  animals,  the  two  divisions  being  akin. 
Trees  and  other  objects  are  likewise  supposed  to 
be  living  abodes  of  sheriy  and,  therefore,  they 
occupy  a  rather  important  place  in  the  popular 
Universistic  religion. 

This  religion  is  also  practised  in  private  houses, 

at  altars,  where,  on  fixed  annual  days,  sacrifices 

are  presented,  while  on  special  occasions  priests 

are  engaged  to  celebrate  worship  with  solemnity 

and  ritualistic  pomp. 

^^    What  chiefly  strikes   us   in    this    Universistic 

^  Idolatry  is  its  materialistic  selfishness.     Promo- 

x^    tion  of  the  material  happiness  of  the  world,  in  the 

,  \     first  place  that  of  the  reigning  dynasty,  is  its  aim 

)       and  end.     We  do  not  find  a  trace  in  it  of  a  higher 


The  Worship  of  the  Universe        215 


N    religious  aim.    The  same  spirit  of  selfishness  mani- 
Xfests  itself  in  the  practical  application  of  Univers- 
ism  to  the  governmental  system  and  the  social 
life,  to  which  we  must  now  turn. 


CHAPTER  VI 

CALENDRICAL     MODE     OF     LIFE.       CHRONOMETRY. 
CHRONOMANCY. 

TT  may  now  be  considered  sufficiently  demon- 
^  strated  that  the  political  organisation  of  the 
Chinese  Empire,  including  the  State  Religion,  is 
based  on  Universism,  and  on  its  holy  books,  the 
Confucian  Classics.  In  fact,  the  imperial  govern- 
ment is  pre-eminently  a  creation  of  the  Order  of 
the  World  itself,  the  instrument  tending  to  keep 
the  human  race  in  the  correct  Tao  by  means 
of  sage  political  measures  and  laws.  It  ought, 
therefore,  to  be  the  sum  and  substance  of  the  Tao 
of  Man,  the  realiser  of  the  great  principle  that  the 
conduct  of  man  must  be  in  perfect  accord  with  the 
Order  of  the  World,  lest  he  lose  his  happiness,  and 
even  his  life.  The  Order  of  the  World  is  the  pro- 
cess of  Nature,  repeating  itself  every  year.  It  is 
the  annual  course  of  time.  Accordingly,  a  par- 
amount duty  of  government  is  to  enable  mankind 

216 


Calendrical  Mode  of  Life  217 


to  live  in  accordance  with  that  time,  so  that  man. 
kind  may  secure  for  itself  the  blessings  which  the 
Universe  dispenses  in  the  several  seasons,  months, 
and  days.  This  duty  is  imperative,  because  the 
Shu  king  prescribes  it.  According  to  this  holy 
book,  a  saintly  minister  of  a  saintly  Son  of  Heaven 
said,  thirty- three  centuries  ago : 

"Heaven  is  all-intelligent;  holy  nders  there- 
fore must  make  niles  of  life  in  connection  with 
the  course  of  time,  to  which  ministers  shall 
adjust  their  measures,  and  the  directions  of 
which  the  people  follow."' 

This  means  that  it  has  been  a  canonical  stand- 
ard law  for  emperors  in  all  ages  to  prescribe  calen- 
drical rules  of  conduct  to  the  official  world  and  the 
people,  in  order  to  secure  the  domination  of  Uni- 
versal Order  among  men.  Calendars  of  obligatory 
usages  existed  at  a  very  early  date;  a  moment's 
reflection  will  convince  us  that  they  must  have 
existed  as  long  as  Taoism  itself.  The  oldest  speci- 
men which  we  possess  has  been  preserved  as  a  part 
of  the  Ta  Tai  li  ki  {see  p.  144) ;  it  is  called  Hia  siao 

*  The  Book  called  Yueh  ming.  Part  II. 


2i8   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


ching,  "Small  Regulator  of  the  Hia  Dynasty,'* 
as  it  professes  to  be  a  legacy  from  the  epoch  be- 
tween the  22nd  and  19th  centuries  before  our  era. 
It  briefly  describes  the  months  by  mentioning  some 
obvious  phenomena  that  characterise  them,  or  the 
position  of  certain  stars,  which  might  guide  the 
people  in  their  husbandry  and  silk-culture,  in 
offering  sacrifices,  etc.  If  we  strip  this  document 
of  apparent  interpolations  of  later  times  and  of 
disquisitions  and  interpretations,  a  text  remains 
which  is  so  short  that  we  are  compelled  to  believe 
it  to  be  a  fragment.  It  contains  internal  evidence 
that  it  was  an  official  document,  namely,  a  decree 
in  reference  to  the  ruler's  hunting  in  the  eleventh 
month. 

Of  a  similar  character,  but  modelled  on  a  much 
larger  scale,  are  a  series  of  calendrical  rescripts 
in  Lu  Puh-wei's  Annuary,  from  which  I  have  given 
extracts  above  (p.  136).  It  is  uncertain  whether 
this  statesman  made  them  for  his  emperor,  the 
great  Shi  Hwang,  or  simply  copied  them  from 
existing  documents.  Under  the  title  of  Yush 
ling,  "Rescripts  for  the  Months,"  they  have  re- 
ceived a  place  in  the  Li  ki,  so  that  they  are  classical 
and  accordingly  have  been,  in  all  ages,  paramount 


Calendrical  Mode  of  Life  219 


factors  in  the  organisation  of  the  state  and  of  its 
official  religion.  Many  contain  evidence  of  great 
antiquity,  and  for  a  study  of  China's  ancient  times 
they  are  of  the  highest  interest.  Since  there 
exist  excellent  translations  of  the  Li  ki  in  English 
and  French, '  the  whole  world  may  read  and  study 
these  rescripts. 

In  many  of  them  it  is  not  easy  or  possible  to 
discern  any  relation  with  the  month  for  which 
they  were  written ;  but  in  most  cases  that  relation 
is  quite  evident.  In  the  spring  they  ordain  that 
the  garments,  the  banners  and  the  standards  of  the 
Son  of  Heaven,  as  also  the  horses  of  his  carriage 
must  be  blue;  in  the  summer  they  must  be  red; 
in  autumn  white;  in  winter  black;  these  colours 
being  assimilated  with  the  seasons  named.  ^  In 
the  first  month  of  the  year,  which  is  also  the  first 
of  the  spring,  the  ruler,  escorted  by  the  highest 
grandees,  must  inaugurate  husbandry  by  plough- 
ing with  his  own  hand,  and  thereupon  he  must 
issue  orders  for  a  proper  beginning  of  this  most  im- 
portant occupation  of  the  people.     In  the  spring, 

»  By  Legge,  in  the  "  Sacred  Books  of  the  East,"  vols.  27  and  28 ; 
and  by  Couvreur,  in  a  special  publication. 
'  See  p.  169. 


220   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


destruction  of  animals,  birds  and  even  insects  is 
forbidden,  because  this  is  the  special  season  of 
creation  of  life.  For  the  same  reason,  weapons 
must  in  the  same  month  remain  imused,  except 
in  self-defence;  "it  is  not  allowed  them  to  modify 
the  Tao  of  Heaven,  nor  to  interrupt  the  natural 
laws  of  the  Earth,  nor  to  disturb  the  calendrical 
rules  of  conduct  of  man."  For  the  same  reason, 
no  forests  or  jungle  may  be  burned.  And,  in  the 
second  month  of  the  season  of  birth  and  life, 
sacrifices  must  be  offered  to  the  patron  divinities 
of  marriage  and  child-birth,  and  these  ceremonies 
are  to  be  attended  by  the  Son  of  Heaven  and  his 
consort  in  person.  At  the  spring  equinox,  the 
Yang  and  the  Yin  are  equally  powerful,  day  and 
night  being  of  equal  length;  and  therefore  the 
steelyards,  weights,  and  measures  must  be  ad- 
justed. In  the  third  month.  Heaven  unfolds  its 
producing  energy  and  the  fulness  of  its  mimifi- 
cence;  the  Son  of  Heaven,  accordingly,  opens  his 
granaries  and  distributes  rice  among  the  poor; 
he  also  bestows  presents  on  the  meritorious  and 
virtuous,  and  the  officers  everywhere  in  his  states 
follow  this  example.  It  being  also  the  rainy 
season,  dikes,  drains,  and  canals  are  to  be  looked 


Calendrical  Mode  of  Life  221 


after  and  repaired.  Measures  are  taken  with 
respect  to  silk-culture ;  and  in  connection  with  the 
approaching  heat,  certain  rites  are  performed  for 
the  purpose  of  exorcising  the  devils  which  cause 
disease  and  plague. 

The  fourth  month,  the  first  of  the  munificent 
simomer  season,  is  naturally  assigned  to  the  Son 
of  Heaven  for  distribution  of  favours,  bounties, 
rewards,  domains  and  principalities.  Nature  has 
not  yet  begun  its  work  of  destruction;  therefore 
nothing  is  to  be  demolished  by  the  hand  of  man, 
no  tree  to  be  cut  down.  Herbage  being  in  its  vi- 
gorous growth  and  imbued  with  the  maximum  of 
vitality  or  shen,  which  the  Yang  bestows,  it  is  the 
proper  time  to  collect  animated  medicinal  plants 
(see  p.  172).  In  the  next  month,  which  contains 
the  longest  day,  the  earth  is  at  the  highest  degree  of 
its  animation  by  the  fructifying  power  of  Heaven ; 
hence  at  this  important  moment  sacrifices,  con- 
nected with  prayers,  are  presented  to  its  mountains, 
streams,  and  rivers  (cf.  p.  194).  The  prohibition 
of  works  of  demolition  and  of  tree-cutting  con- 
tinues as  late  as  the  sixth  month;  and  there  is  to 
be  no  preparation  for  war,  since  this  would  de- 
prive husbandry  of  indispensable  labouring  hands. 


222    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


Such  prohibitions  are  not  in  force  in  the  next 
month,  the  first  of  autumn,  because  this  season  is 
that  of  decay  and  destruction.  It  is  then  ordained 
by  the  Son  of  Heaven  that  soldiers  be  enlisted, 
trained  and  drilled;  distribution  of  justice  begins, 
criminals  are  punished,  prisons  repaired.  Works 
which  require  demolition  in  any  form,  such  as 
reparation  of  houses,  buildings,  city  walls,  are  now 
no  longer  forbidden,  but  bestowal  of  favours,  digni- 
ties, appanages  and  bounties  is  strictly  interdicted. 
In  the  second  month  of  the  autumn,  people  who 
are  in  the  autumn  of  life,  the  old  and  decrepit, 
are  supplied  with  food.  Now  sentences  must  be 
revised,  and  victims  selected  for  the  sacrificial 
worship.  At  the  equinox  of  autumn,  measures 
and  weights  are  corrected  anew.  Then  the  winter 
is  approaching  in  which  Heaven  and  Earth  hide 
their  treasures,  and  distribute  them  no  longer 
among  men.  Man  must  imitate  this  phenomenon ; 
he  stores  up  his  harvest,  and  orders  to  this  effect  are 
issued  by  the  officers  of  government.  The  natural 
process  of  destruction  being  at  the  height  of  in- 
tensity in  this  ninth  month,  tree-felling  and  char- 
coal-making are  no  longer  disallowed,  and  criminals 
condemned  to  die  are  executed.     It  is  now  the 


Calendrical  Mode  of  Life  223 


proper  time  for  hunting,  and  the  Son  of  Heaven 
indulges  in  this  manly  sport  at  the  head  of  his 
people,  to  train  them  for  warfare,  for  which  the 
season  of  death  is  in  particular  assigned  by  nature. 
In  the  first  month  of  winter  fortifications  and  cities 
are  to  be  repaired;  gates  and  frontiers  are  gar- 
risoned, roads  are  barred  and  watched,  and  sacri- 
fices are  offered  to  the  protecting  spirits  of  the 
gates  and  the  territory.  Sacrifices  are,  moreover, 
presented  to  the  ancestors,  and  the  regulations 
concerning  funeral  rites  and  mourning  are  revised. 
In  the  month  of  midwinter  the  people  must  imi- 
tate the  hibernating  animals,  and  stay  at  home, 
because  Earth  itself  is  then  in  a  closed  state. 
And  as  winter  is  assimilated  with  the  watery 
element  (cf.  page  169),  prayers,  sustained  by 
sacrifices,  are  to  be  addressed  to  the  seas,  rivers, 
sources,  lakes,  tanks  and  wells.  In  the  last  month 
of  this  season,  husbandmen,  like  nature  itself,  are 
to  prepare  themselves  for  the  coming  spring,  and 
repair  their  agricultural  implements. 

Those  rescripts,  written  by  the  holy  men  of 
antiquity  who  knew  and  understood  the  Tao  of 
the  Universe  thoroughly,  must  be  promulgated 
and  enforced  by  the  Son  of  Heaven  in  a  perfectly 


224   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


correct  way;  else  he  causes  his  people  to  violate 
and  dislocate  the  Order  of  the  World  by  their 
occupations  the  whole  year  round,  with  the  terrible 
result  that  the  phenomena  of  Nature  will  occur 
in  the  wrong  seasons.  So  great  is  the  influence 
of  the  Tao  of  the  emperor,  the  greatest  god  on 
earth,  upon  the  Tao  of  the  Universe!  The  con- 
sequence of  such  dislocation  of  Nature  would  be 
fatal  to  the  human  race;  therefore  they  are  men- 
tioned  as  a  warning  at  the  end  of  the  rescripts  for 
every  month.     To  mention  a  few : 

''If  in  the  first  month  of  the  spring  the  re- 
scripts for  the  summer  are  enacted,  the  rains  will 
not  fall  in  the  due  seasons,  the  plants  and  trees 
will  shed  their  leaves  too  soon,  and  anxiety 
will  prevail  in  the  state.  Should  the  rescripts 
for  autumn  be  enacted  in  that  month,  the  people 
will  be  visited  by  great  plagues;  gales  will  blow; 
torrents  of  rain  will  fall  everywhere;  all  plants 
will  grow  up  and  ripen  simultaneously.  And 
if  the  rescripts  for  the  winter  be  enacted,  then 
swollen  rivers  will  cause  damage,  and  snow  and 
frost  will  be  so  severe  and  unstable  that  no  grain 
will  be  harvested." 


Calendrical  Mode  of  Life  225 


The  necessity  of  administering  government  with 
observance  of  statutory  rescripts  for  seasons  and 
months,  has  been,  from  the  reign  of  the  House  of 
Han  and  onward,  often  set  forth  by  statesmen, 
and  acknowledged  by  edicts  and  decrees  from 
foimders  of  dynasties  and  other  emperors.  Evi- 
dently, domestic  and  social  customs  of  the  people, 
as  well  as  the  institutions  of  the  state,  have  been 
bound  more  and  more  to  fixed  annual  dates.  A 
mode  of  life  adapted  to  the  annual  rotmd  of  time, 
or  Order  of  the  World,  has  thus  been  constructed 
and  considered  to  be  a  principal  part  of  the  Tao  of 
Man.  The  Hterature  on  this  subject  is  very  large. 
It  is  compiled  in  the  Ku  kin  t  'u  shu  tsih  ch  'ing, 
under  the  heading  "annual  actions,"  in  no  less 
than  116  chapters,  forming  as  rich  a  mine  of  in- 
formation as  students  of  the  institutions  of 
Chinese  life  can  desire. 

If  man  is  to  behave  and  live  in  exact  accordance 
with  the  Course  of  Time,  he  must  possess  an  exact 
knowledge  of  that  Course,  and  a  knowledge  of  the 
fitness  or  unfitness  of  every  day  for  the  different 
businesses  and  actions  of  life.  It  is,  accordingly, 
the  cardinal  duty  of  the   Son  of   Heaven,   the 

IS 


226   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


supreme  guide  of  mankind  in  the  Tao,  to  furnish 
that  knowledge.  And  this  god  on  earth  fulfils  it 
by  issuing  every  year  an  almanac. 

This  important  book  bears,  officially,  the  signifi- 
cant title,  Shi  Men  shu,  "Book  of  Rules  in  Connec- 
tion with  the  Course  of  Time."  It  is  published 
in  obedience  to  the  classical  rescript  mentioned 
above  (page  216):  ; 

"Holy  rulers  shall  make  rules  connected  with 
the  Course  of  Time,  to  which  the  ministers  shall 
adjust  their  measures,  and  the  directions  of 
which  the  people  shall  follow." 

The  paramount  importance  of  this  almanac  is 
evident.  By  carefully  following  its  rescripts, 
happiness  may  be  assured  for  every  one,  and  mis- 
fortune avoided.  It  is  a  magical  instrument,  but 
for  which  the  human  world  and  the  dynasty  must 
be  ruined.  It  is  self-evident  that  it  must  accord 
perfectly  with  the  sun  and  moon,  the  great  regu- 
lators of  time.  In  fact  the  calendar  is  both  solar 
and  lunar.  It  divides  the  year  into  twenty-four 
seasons,  defined  by  the  position  of  the  sun,  as  also 
into  twelve  months,  with  occasionally  an  inter- 


Calendrical  Mode  of  Life  227 


calary  month,  each  beginning  when  the  moon  is 
new.  It  is  a  model  of  exactness,  as  probably  it 
was  in  the  remote  classical  age,  imder  the  guidance 
of  the  Universistic  system.  If  it  were  incorrect, 
the  Tao  of  Man  would  be  dislocated  from  that  of 
the  Universe;  man's  relation  with  the  gods,  who 
constitute  the  Universal  Tao,  would  thus  be  de- 
ranged. As  a  consequence,  there  would  no  longer 
be  for  him  any  protection  on  their  part,  and  the 
demons  would  predominate;  in  short,  mankind 
with  its  emperor  would  be  totally  ruined. 

There  is  evidence  in  the  Classics  that  almanacs 
or  calendars  were  prepared  and  published  officially 
in  the  24th  century  before  our  era,  at  the  very 
dawn  of  China's  history.  When  Yao — thus  we 
read  in  the  Shu  king — occupied  the  throne, 

"he  commanded  Hi  and  Ho  to  calculate  and 
deHneate,  for  the  sake  of  the  adjustment  with 
bright  Heaven,  [the  movements  of]  the  sun, 
the  moon,  the  stars,  and  the  planets,  and  re- 
spectfully deliver  the  divisions  of  time  to  man- 
kind. .  .  .  The  emperor  said,  'Hi  and  Ho,  a 
year  exists  of  366  days;  by  means  of  the 
intercalary  month  do  you  fix  the  four  seasons 


228   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


and  thus  perfectly  determine  the  year.  Thus 
regulated  in  accordance  with  these  determina- 
tions, the  duties  of  the  various  officers  and  all 
the  occupations  of  the  people  will  prosper.'  '*' 

The  father  of  Sze-ma  Ts  'ien,  Sze-ma  Tan, 
himself  the  calendar-maker  and  annalist  of  the 
emperor  Wu,  of  the  Han  dynasty,  clearly  states 
the  Taoist  character  of  those  measures  of  that 
most  ancient  and  greatest  imperial  paragon : 

**Yao  instituted  the  offices  of  Hi  and  Ho 
because,  when  the  divisions  of  time  are  clearly 
determined  and  measurements  to  that  end  were 
performed  with  correctness,  the  Yin  and  the 
Yang  would  operate  harmoniously,  so  that 
winds  and  rains  would  come  in  the  due  seasons, 
in  consequence  of  which  luxuriant  growth  wotdd 
prevail  in  the  highest  degree,  and  no  famine  or 
plague  would  occur  among  the  people."* 

In  the  classical  age  of  Cheu,  according  to  its 
famous  book  on  the  organisation  of  government, 
the  preparation  of  the  calendar  was  entrusted  to 
so-called 

» The  Book  called  Yao  Hen.  » Ski  ki,  Chapter  26,  fo.  3. 


Calendrical  Mode  of  Life  229 


*' chief  annalists  or  chroniclers,  who  correctly 
determined  the  solar  year  and  the  lunar  year, 
in  order  to  regulate  the  occupations  of  man  and 
who  distributed  the  calendar  among  the  officers 
and  in  the  capitals  of  the  provinces ;  they  distrib- 
uted also  the  calendars  in  the  feudal  kingdoms."  ^ 

Note  the  fact,  that  the  redaction  of  the  calendar 
was,  in  those  ancient  times,  the  work  of  officers 
who  were  at  the  same  time  dynastic  historio- 
graphers. The  combination  of  these  functions 
in  the  same  dignitaries  explains  the  well-known 
admirable  correctness  of  Chinese  historical  chrono- 
logy; and  it  is  clear  that  this  correctness  is  a 
valuable  fruit  of  the  Taoist  demand  for  a  system 
of  chronometry  without  a  flaw. 

It  has  always  been  not  only  the  Son  of  Heaven's 
duty  to  supply  his  officers  and  his  people  with  the 
almanac,  but  also  his  exclusive  prerogative.  Man's 
slavish  submission  to  Heaven  and  its  Tao  or  Way, 
manifested  by  his  implicit  obedience  to  the  al- 
manac, naturally  signified  his  absolute  submission 
to  Heaven's  only  Son  and  plenipotentiary  on 
Earth;  and  this  son  maintained  this  submission 

'  Cheu  It,  Chapter  26,  folios  4  and  5. 


230   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


to  himself  and  his  celestial  father  by  means  of  the 
almanac.  He  did  so  in  his  vassal  states;  there  a 
refusal  to  respectfully  receive  and  follow  this 
celestial  book  would  have  meant  open  rebellion 
against  the  two  highest  authorities  in  the  Universe, 
Heaven  and  its  son.  Copies  were  probably  in  all 
periods  officially  sent  to  all  kingdoms  that  acknow- 
ledged the  suzerainty  of  China.  According  to 
the  governmental  statutes  of  the  House  of  Ming, 
they  were,  during  the  reign  of  this  dynasty,  for- 
warded to  Champa,  Liu-kiu,  and  other  kingdoms ; 
and  it  is  certainly  not  on  behalf  of  Chinese  colon- 
ists only  that  the  now  reigning  House  adjusts  its 
almanacs  to  the  wants  of  Corea,  Annam  and  Liu- 
kiu  by  inserting  tables  of  the  moments  of  sunrise 
and  simset  there,  as  also  the  exact  beginnings  of 
the  twenty -four  solar  seasons. 

In  the  age  of  Cheu,  the  above-mentioned  "chief 
annalists'*  presided  over  a  board  of  officers,  since 
the  almanac  required  the  labours  of  many  calcu- 
lators and  observers  of  the  sphere.  This  board 
was  charged  also  with  divination  by  the  observa- 
tion of  extraordinary  phenomena,  with  astrology, 
and  other  mystic  sciences.  It  counted  among 
its  members 


Calendrical  Mode  of  Life  231 


"Observers,  who  were  charged  with  the  defini- 
tion of  the  cycles  of  twelve  years,  the  twelve 
lunations  of  every  year,  the  duodenary  and 
denary  cycles  of  days,  and  the  position  of  the 
twenty-eight  principal  constellations.  They 
determined  how  these  factors  regulated  the 
order  of  human  occupations,  and  how,  accord- 
ingly, the  latter  shotdd  be  connected  with  various 
parts  of  the  sphere.  They  also  determined  the 
(lowest  and  the  highest)  meridian  altitude  of 
the  Sim  in  winter  and  summer,  and  that  of  the 
moon  in  the  spring  and  autumn,  in  order  thus 
to  fix  the  order  of  the  four  seasons."' 

The  board  also  contained 

"Astrologers  charged  with  observation  of  the 
heavens,  who  had  to  record  the  alterations 
which  occurred  in  the  sun  and  moon,  and  the 
movements  of  the  stars  and  planets,  as  also  to 
observe  the  deviations  from  the  ordinary  con- 
dition of  things,  occturing  in  the  world  below, 
and  thence  to  deduce  good  or  bad  fortune."^ 


*  Cheu  It,  Chapter  26,  fos.  13  and  16. 
'Op.  et  cop.  cit.,  fo.  18. 


232    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


This  board  of  chronometry  and  observation  of 
Heaven  and  Earth  passed  over  into  the  adminis- 
trative system  of  the  Han  dynasty,  and  since  that 
time  it  has  ever  remained  a  most  important  State 
institution.  During  the  reign  of  the  House  of 
Ming  it  was  called  Khin  t' ten  kien,  *' Board  for 
Adjustment  to  Heaven" — a  name  that  it  bears 
to  this  day. 

The  present  State  constitution  prescribes  that 
a  manuscript  copy  of  the  almanac  shall  be  pre- 
pared by  that  board  every  year  for  the  private 
use  of  the  emperor,  and  that,  besides  a  Chinese 
edition,  there  shall  be  prepared  one  in  Manchu  and 
one  in  Mongol.  Copies  are  forwarded  at  the 
beginning  of  the  first  month  of  the  preceding  year, 
by  means  of  the  military  post,  to  the  high  offices 
in  Peking,  and  to  the  lieutenant-governors  of  the 
provinces,  who  have  them  reprinted  for  further 
distribution  among  the  officers,  mostly  in  some- 
what different  size  and  print,  and  with  omission 
of  certain  parts  which  are  superfluous  for  their 
jurisdictions,  such  as  the  tables  of  sunrise  and 
sunset  in  other  provinces. 

The  Khin  /'  ten  kien  also  publishes  an  almanac, 
which  is  based  on  the  movements  of  the  planets 


Calendrical  Mode  of  Life  233 


and  destined  to  be  the  principal  basis  for  fortune- 
telling  in  the  empire.  It  is  also  charged  with  the 
selection  of  auspicious  days  and  hours  for  the 
performance  of  sacrifices  of  the  State  Religion  and 
other  official  rites,  including  imperial  audiences, 
marriages,  burials,  etc.  All  matters  bearing  on 
divination  in  general  are  entrusted  to  it.  In  ac- 
cordance with  its  various  functions,  it  is  divided 
into  three  offices.  That  for  the  almanac  is  called 
shi Men  kho,  "Bureau  for  niles  ia  connection  with 
the  course  of  time."  It  is  presided  over  by  two 
Manchu  and  two  Mongol  dignitaries,  who  bear 
the  significant  title  of  wu  kwan  ching,  "directors 
of  the  five  ruling  powers,"  which  are  the  four 
seasons,  and  the  earth,  on  which  the  influences 
of  the  seasons  converge.  Subordinate  to  these 
grandees  is  a  "Director  for  the  ruling  power  of 
spring,"  and  four  officers,  similarly  titled,  for  the 
three  other  seasons  and  the  centre;  they  are  all 
Chinese.  There  also  belongs  to  this  office  a 
Chinese  "Secretary  for  the  five  ruling  powers," 
with  twenty-two  doctors,  and  so  on. 

The  function  of  the  almanac  is  also  chronoman-' 
tic,  that  is  to  say,  it  states  for  which  principal 


u^ 


234   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


""^  businesses  of  human  life  the  different  days  of  the 
year  are  fit  or  unfit.  It  thereby  points  out  how  a 
man  can  obey  the  great  law  of  the  Tao  of  Man, 
that  he  shall  make  his  actions  and  conduct  conform 
to  the  Order  of  the  World,  which  is  the  process  of 
Time;  and  since,  but  for  his  humble  submission 
to  that  law,  he  suffers  misfortune  and  even  total 
ruin,  the  chronomantic  directions  of  the  almanac 
are  of  a  material  importance  which  it  is  not  possible 
to  overrate.  Virtually,  the  almanac  is  the  pedestal 
of  the  prosperity  of  the  government  and  the  people ; 
nay,  it  is  the  pedestal  of  their  very  existence. 

Its  chronomantic  function  rests,  of  course,  upon 
the  elementary  principles  of  Universism.  The 
,^  world  is  a  living  organism,  the  Order  or  process 
of  which,  called  Tao,  is  the  yearly  work  of  the 
innumerable  shen  or  gods  that  constitute  its  soul, 
which  is  called  Yang.  This  Order  is  the  process 
of  Time,  producing  all  changes  in  growth  and 
decay.  As  a  consequence,  the  various  subdivi- 
sions of  Time,  created  by  the  great  Process  itself, 
as  the  years,  the  solar  seasons,  the  days,  the  luna- 
tions are  nothing  else  than  shen  or  gods. 

This  deification  of  the  divisions  of  Time,  nat- 
urally resulting  from  the  divinity  of  the  Tao,  has 


Calendrical  Mode  of  Life  235 


actually  become  a  deification  of  the  terms  by 
which  those  divisions  are  denoted.  From  the  re- 
mote past,  the  years,  months,  and  days  have  been  ^ 
defined  by  means  of  two  imalterable  rows  of  char- 
acters. One  row  consists  of  ten  so-called  kan  or 
''stems,"  and  the  other  of  twelve  ki  or  ''branches." 
These  rows  are  combined  into  a  cylce  of  sixty  bi- 
literal  terms,  simply  by  starting  them  afresh  im- 
mediately after  they  have  been  gone  through ;  and 
this  cycle  has  been  used  for  at  least  two  thousand 
years  to  count,  in  a  perpetual  rotation,  the  years, 
months,  and  days,  each  of  these  chronometrical 
factors  being  denominated  by  a  binominal. 
These  factors  accordingly  constitute  which  fate,i/' 
the  Order  of  the  Universe,  or  Time  itself,  directs. 
The  chronomantic  science  of  China,  of  which 
the  almanac  is  the  perfect  and  most  precious  fruit, 
may,  accordingly,  be  defined  as  a  cabalism  ex- 
pressed in  these  chronometrical  figures.  It  is 
combined  with  manipulations  of  numbers  which, 
on  classical  authority,  are  alleged  to  be  significant. 
The  Yih  king  for  instance,  each  word  of  which  is 
sterling  dogma,  has  declared  that  the  odd  num- 
bers are  dominated  by  Heaven  or  the  Yang,  and 
the  even  by  Earth  or  the  Yin : 


236   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


"To  Heaven  belong  the  numbers  i,  3,  5,  7, 
and  9;  to  earth  belong  the  numbers  2,  4,  6,  8 
and  10.  There  are  then  five  celestial  and  five 
terrestrial  numbers;  these  rows  of  five  operate 
upon  each  other,  and  each  number  has  one  with 
which  it  corresponds.  The  stun  of  the  celestial 
numbers  is  twenty-five,  and  that  of  the  ter- 
restrial numbers  is  thirty,  and  their  sum  is  fifty- 
five.  It  is  in  accordance  with  these  factors  that 
the  processes  of  the  Universe  are  effected,  and 
the  kwei  and  the  shen  do  their  work." ' 

However,  the  main  materials,  from  which  the 
definitions  of  the  almanac  about  auspicious  or 
injurious  days  are  drawn  up,  are  calculations, 
writings,  and  statements  of  wise  men  of  bygone 
ages,  transmitted  during  two  thousand  years  or 
more,  for  the  greater  part  merely  dictatorial  or 
assertive,  defying  explanation  and  criticism.  The 
absolute  reliability  and  perfection  of  the  almanac 
is  conclusively  settled  by  the  fact  that  it  has  its 
origin  every  year  in  the  divine  government  of  the 
Son  of  Heaven,  the  perfect  Taoist,  possessor  of 
the  highest  and  limitless  wisdom  which  Taoist 

*  The  Appendix  cnlled  Hi-ts'ze. 


Calendrical  Mode  of  Life  237 


perfection  bestows,  who,  moreover,  is  infallible, 
since  he  is  inspired  by  his  heavenly  father,  by 
whose  decree  he  reigns. 

We  look  on  this  chronomantic  pseudo-science 
as  an  absurdity;  but,  certainly,  we  can  under- 
stand why  the  almanac  has  ever  been  an  object 
of  the  greatest  concern  for  the  Imperial  Throne, 
and  why  every  annual  distribution  is  conducted 
with  solemn  pomp. 

On  the  first  day  of  the  tenth  month,  at  early 
davm,  a  procession,  opened  by  a  band  of  musicians 
of  the  Board  of  Music,  is  formed  in  the  hall  of  the 
Khin  t'  ien  kien.  The  high  directors,  in  full  court 
dress,  come  forth,  accompanied  by  their  subordi- 
nate officers,  and  reverently  place  the  copies  made 
for  the  emperor  and  his  consorts  in  a  baldachin, 
which  is  adorned  with  dragons,  the  symbol  of 
imperial  dignity;  then  they  perform  three  pros- 
trations and  nine  khotows,  the  humblest  Chinese 
form  of  worship.  After  this,  they  deposit  the 
almanacs  which  are  to  be  delivered  to  the  princes 
of  the  blood  and  to  the  high  ministers  in  eight 
baldachins,  richly  ornamented;  but  they  omit  the 
prostrations.  Finally,  the  copies  for  the  civil 
and  military  authorities  of  the  Eight  Banners, 


238    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


the  Boards,  and  other  high  official  bodies,  are  sol- 
emnly arranged  on  eighty  red  tables,  which  stand 
in  the  side  porticoes  of  the  building. 

Carriers,  belonging  to  the  Imperial  Equipage 
Department,  now  transport  the  baldachins  to  the 
palace,  marching  in  a  file,  with  minute  observance 
of  the  ranks  of  the  grandees  for  whom  the  contents 
are  destined.  The  procession  is  preceded  by  a 
baldachin,  in  which,  to  honotir  the  holy  books, 
incense  is  burning.  The  procession  is  completed 
by  the  members  of  the  three  offices  of  which  the 
Khin  t  *  ien  kien  consists.  When  it  reaches  the 
southern  gate  of  the  central  square  part  of  the 
palace,  the  copies  destined  for  the  emperor  are 
deposited  on  a  yellow  table  that  has  been  placed  on 
the  eastern  side  of  the  central  passage  of  this  gate. 
The  almanacs  which  are  for  the  consorts  are  then 
laid  out  upon  tables  on  the  west  side,  and  those 
destined  for  the  princes  and  ministers  upon  eight 
red  tables,  placed  to  the  east  and  west. 

Now  the  Directors  of  the  Khin  /*  ien  kien  carry 
the  copies  which  are  destined  for  the  emperor  and 
the  consorts  to  the  next  gate  due  north,  and  cere- 
moniously deposit  them  there  upon  two  yellow 
tables.     The   Directors  make  three  prostrations 


Calendrical  Mode  of  Life  239 


and  nine  khotows,  upon  which  some  officers  of  the 
Imperial  Household  Department,  who  belong  to 
the  Office  for  Court  Ritual,  bring  the  almanacs 
to  the  chief  gate  of  the  private  part  of  the  palace 
and  to  the  gate  of  the  harem,  where  they  are  de- 
livered to  eunuchs,  through  whom  they  reach  the 
emperor,  the  empress-dowager,  and  the  imperial 
consorts. 

By  this  ceremony,  which  is  called  *' respectful 
presentation  of  the  calends,"  the  emperor  enters 
into  the  possession  of  a  manuscript  almanac  in 
Chinese  and  another  in  Manchu  destined  exclu- 
sively for  his  own  august  eyes,  besides  a  certain 
number  of  printed  copies  in  Manchu,  Mongol,  and 
Chinese,  and  some  planetary  almanacs  in  Manchu 
and  Chinese.  The  cover  of  each  copy  is  of  silk 
of  the  imperial  yellow  colour,  with  gold  inscrip- 
tions. The  empress  and  the  other  consorts  each 
receive  five  printed  copies. 

The  almanacs  which  are  left  on  the  red 
tables,  in  the  south  gate  of  the  palace,  are  in  Chin- 
ese and  Manchu  if  destined  for  the  princes;  but 
those  which  are  for  the  ministers  are  either  in 
Chinese,  Manchu  or  Mongol,  according  to  their 
respective   countries.     Their   covers   are   of   red 


240   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


silk.  These  magnates  and  grandees  now  assemble 
at  this  gate,  every  one  in  court  dress,  and  with  a 
cortege  of  subordinate  officers.  Before  the  su- 
premacy over  Corea  was  ceded  to  Japan,  certain 
officers  of  the  Board  for  the  Li  conducted  the 
minister  of  that  country  with  his  attaches  to  the 
spot,  in  the  official  vestment  of  their  nation.  The 
whole  assembly  of  dignitaries  wait  decorously  and 
respectfully  on  both  sides,  under  the  outer  porticoes, 
arranged  according  to  their  ranks,  until  ushers  of 
the  high  Court  of  State  Ceremonial  order  them  to 
step  forward.  They  then  take  up  a  position  on 
both  sides  of  the  central  gateway,  and  are  ordered 
by  the  ushers  to  kneel  down.  All  obey  as  one 
man,  and  in  this  attitude  humbly  listen  to  the 
promulgation  of  a  brief  imperial  decree,  which, 
on  the  order  of  the  usher,  an  officer  of  the  same 
Court  recites:  "The  almanac  of  the  year  So-and-so 
shall  be  distributed  among  the  state  servants  for 
further  promulgation  throughout  the  Empire." 
Now  all  manifest  their  submissive  respect  for  this 
manifestation  of  the  imperial  will  by  making,  at 
the  order  of  the  ushers,  three  prostrations  and  nine 
khotows.  Officers  of  the  Khin  f  ien  kien  and  the 
Board  for  the  Li  then  solemnly  take  the  almanacs 


Calendrical  Mode  of  Life  241 


from  the  red  table  and  hand  them  to  the  princes 
and  ministers,  who  receive  them  kneeling,  both 
hands  raised  to  the  height  of  the  eyebrows.  The 
Corean  minister  had  to  accept  his  copy  after  three 
prostrations  and  nine  khotows,  and  to  take  it  to 
his  country,  where  his  king  had  to  receive  it  in 
full  royal  garb,  for  reproduction  and  ceremonious 
distribution  among  his  state  servants. 

The  civil  and  military  officers  of  the  central 
government,  for  whom  almanacs  were  laid  out  on 
eighty  tables  at  the  gate  of  the  Khin  t*  ten  Men, 
have  to  repair  thither  to  receive  their  copies  in 
the  same  respectful  way. 

This  ceremonious  distribution  is  mentioned  in 
the  ancient  Cheu  li  by  the  term  "distribution  of 
the  calends,"  and  therefore  is  now  officially  so 
called.  On  the  first  day  of  the  tenth  month,  in  the 
morning,  it  is  celebrated  also  in  each  provincial 
capital,  imder  the  name  of  "reception  of  the 
calends."  The  reprints,  made  after  the  standard 
models  which  were  received  from  Peking  (see 
page  231),  are  placed  in  a  baldachin  adorned  with 
imperial  dragons,  and,  escorted  by  musicians, 
sent  from  the  mansion  of  the  lieutenant-governor 
to  that  of  the  governor-general,  or,  if  the  city  is 


242   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


not  the  seat  of  such  a  dignitary,  to  that  of  the 
governor.  Here  they  are  laid  out  upon  tables, 
while  the  civil  and  military  officials  assemble,  all 
with  their  suites  and  in  state  dress.  Ceremonial 
ushers  arrange  them  with  strict  observance  of 
their  order  of  rank,  the  governor-general  or  the 
governor  with  his  civil  functionaries  keeping  to 
the  eastern  side,  and  the  general  with  the  military 
officers  to  the  western.  Then,  simultaneously,  on 
the  order  of  an  usher,  all  perform  three  prostra- 
tions and  nine  khotows  towards  the  north,  in  wor- 
ship of  the  emperor.  This  done,  they  receive  the 
almanacs  in  the  same  manner  as  their  colleagues 
at  Peking,  and  retire.  The  lieutenant-governor 
delivers  a  number  of  copies  to  the  Taotais  of  the 
province,  who  have  to  forward  them  to  the  capitals 
of  the  departments  and  districts  in  their  respective 
jurisdiction  or  circuit;  and  the  military  com- 
manders receive  a  certain  number  for  distribution 
among  the  military  posts.  In  all  those  places 
they  must  be  distributed  as  soon  as  possible,  with 
a  ceremonial  analogous  to  that  observed  in  the 
provincial  capital. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  official  distribution 
of  the  almanacs  has  always  taken  place  in  a  similar 


Calendrical  Mode  of  Life  243 


solemn  manner,  and  it  is  very  probable  that  the 
emperor's  sole  right  to  supply  the  people  with  the 
book  was  always  protected  by  severe  laws.  In 
the  Code  of  the  Ming  dynasty  and  that  of  the  pres- 
ent house  private  fabrication  of  imperial  almanacs 
is,  like  the  coimterf citing  of  officially  sealed  docu- 
ments, forbidden  under  penalty  of  decapitation; 
accessories  in  such  a  crime  are  punished  with  a 
himdred  blows  with  long  sticks  and  perpetual  ban- 
ishment to  a  distance  of  three  thousand  miles.  In 
virtue  of  an  imperial  decree  of  18 16,  those  punish- 
ments are  to  be  inflicted  upon  those  also  who  make 
private  almanacs  and  calendars  previous  to  the 
official ' '  distribution  of  the  calends. ' '  Publication 
of  such  almanacs  and  calendars  is  for  the  rest  al- 
lowed; and  in  fact  they  are  made  everjrwhere,  and 
sold  at  very  moderate  prices.  In  order  to  en- 
courage private  enterprise  in  this  line,  the  Khin 
f  ten  Men  also  publishes  an  "imperial  book  for 
ten  thousand  years,"  which  gives  the  calendar  for 
many  years  in  advance,  but  with  the  omission  of 
the  chronomantic  part. 

Since  the  almanac  is  the  mighty  magical  instru- 
ment by  means  of  which  the  Tao  of  Heaven 
bestows  its  blessings  on  the  whole  human  race, 


244   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


it  suppresses  and  removes  evil.  Since  evil  is  caused 
by  demons,  the  inference  is  that  almanacs  are 
exorcising  instruments  of  the  first  order.  In  this 
respect  they  stand  exactly  on  a  par  with  the 
Classics  (cf.  page  154).  No  house  in  China  may 
lack  a  copy  of  an  almanac,  or  its  title-page  in 
miniature,  sold  as  a  charm,  in  accordance  with 
the  pars  pro  toto  principle,  by  vendors  of  sham 
paper  money,  booksellers  or  stationers.  This 
charm  is  hidden  in  beds,  comers,  cupboards,  and 
similar  places,  or  worn  in  the  clothes;  and  no 
bride  who  is  passing  from  the  home  of  her  parents 
to  that  of  her  bridegroom  may  omit  a  specimen 
among  the  exorcising  and  propitious  objects  with 
which  her  pocket  is  filled.  When  the  year  has 
passed,  the  old  almanacs  are  useful  as  exorcising 
medicine.  Against  fever,  ascribed  to  devils,  pills 
are  made  from  ashes  of  almanacs,  preferably 
burned  at  the  midday  hour  of  the  summer  solstice, 
when  the  Yang  is  at  the  very  height  of  its  annual 
beneficial  power  and  influence. 

Thus  Chinese  chronomancy  is  a  holy  science, 
cultivated  on  behalf  of  the  whole  human  world 
by  the  celestial  government  of  the  Son  of  Heaven, 
because  on  its  proper  cultivation  and  application 


Calendrical  Mode  of  Life  245 


the  happiness  and  the  existence  of  the  world 
depend.  It  directs  the  life  of  the  Chinese  nation 
in  all  its  parts  by  means  of  the  almanac.  In  that 
magical  Universistic  book  the  propitious  days  are 
named  on  which  to  contract  marriages,  or  remove 
to  another  house,  or  cut  clothes;  days  on  which 
one  may  begin  works  of  repair  of  houses,  temples, 
ships,  or  commence  house-building  by  laying  the  l/ 
upper  beam  of  the  roof  in  its  place  by  means  of  a 
scaffolding,  or  putting  up  the  first  pillar;  days  on 
which  one  may  safely  undertake  earth  works, 
bathe,  open  shops,  have  meetings  with  relations 
and  friends,  receive  money;  days  on  which  one 
may  sow  or  reap,  send  one's  children  to  school 
for  the  first  time,  bury  the  dead,  etc.,  etc.  To  no  L^""^ 
man  of  intelligence  will  it  occur  to  perform  such 
actions  on  other  days,  unless  he  believes  himself 
able,  by  means  of  cunning  artifices  of  a  childish 
character,  to  transfer  the  evil  effects  of  such  a 
transgression  against  the  Tao  upon  some  animal, 
or  upon  such  vermin  as  cockroaches,  mice,  bugs. 

But  the  application  of  chronomancy  extends  | 
far  beyond  the  almanac.     Whenever  a  man  wishes 
to  undertake  a  business  of  importance,  he  will  be 
wise  to  do  it  at  a  time  indicated  by  chronological 


246   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


-J 


terms  that  accord  favoiirably  with  those  which 
express  the  year,  month,  day,  and  even  the  hour 
of  his  birth.  For  among  the  ''ten  stems "  and  the 
"twelve  branches*'  there  are  some  which  harmon- 
ise with  one  another,  and  others  which  collide,  so 
that  they  increase  or  destroy  one  another's  in- 
fluences ;  and  no  success  is  obtainable  unless  there 
be  a  favourable  coalition  between  those  factors. 
It  is,  moreover,  a  standard  law  in  chronomantical 
science  that  the  chronometrical  characters  of  a 
man's  birth,  which  may  be  called  his  horoscope, 
determine  his  fate  for  ever,  in  point  of  fact  are  his 
fate,  so  that  it  is  not  prudent  to  allow  an  action 
to  affect  them  inj\iriously  by  performing  it  in  a 
year,  month,  day  or  hoiu*  which  are  marked  by 
so-called  contrary  characters.  It  is  evident  that 
there  is  room  here  for  endless  speculation,  as  those 
characters  may  be  combined  and  shifted  in  several 
manners,  and  their  propitious  or  injurious  quali- 
ties may  be  defined  differently.  Moreover,  new 
factors  of  calculation  may  be  introduced  by  tak- 
ing into  consideration  that  the  "stems"  and 
"branches"  denote  also  points  of  the  compass  and 
their  influences,  and,  in  consequence,  the  five  ele- 
ments or  planets.     And  in  addition,  the  influences 


Calendrical  Mode  of  Life  247 


of  the  chronometrical  characters  are  modified  by 
twelve  animals,  which,  arranged  in  an  tmalterable 
order,  have  been  assimilated  for  about  two  thou- 
sand years,  in  perpetual  rotation,  with  the  years, 
months,  days,  and  hours.  These  animals  are  the 
rat,  the  ox,  the  tiger,  the  hare,  the  dragon,  the 
serpent,  the  horse,  the  goat,  the  monkey,  the  cock, 
the  dog,  and  the  pig. 

Such  speculative  work  is  exclusively  the  busi- 
ness of  professional  diviners,  who  pretend  to 
belong  to  the  literary  or  learned  class.  Undoubt- 
edly they  are  well  paid  by  their  customers,  seeing 
that  many  htmdred  thousands  devote  themselves 
to  this  profession.  They  are  never  without 
business,  and  accordingly  tyrannise  over  himian 
life  in  every  way.  And  yet  the  chionomantical 
science  or  art,  which  bears  its  refutation  on  its 
face,  is  only  a  part  of  the  great  all-dominating 
science  which  teaches  and  compels  man  to  live  and 
act  in  accord  with  the  Universe,  captivating  his 
mind,  shackling  his  thoughts  and  movements, 
and  destined  to  do  so  until  true  science,  the  germs 
of  which  are  now  gradually  spreading  over  China, 
shall  tmdermine  and  destroy  its  sway. 


I-- 


u- 


CHAPTER  VII 

DIVINATORY  OBSERVATION  OF  THE  UNIVERSE^ 

T^HE  cardinal  principle  of  human  life  in  Eastern 
^  Asia,  which  dictates  that  man  shall  behave 
in  conformity  with  the  Tao  or  Order  of  the  Uni- 
verse, has  compelled  him  for  thousands  of  years 
to  keep  his  eyes  fixed  upon  the  Universe,  in  order 
to  learn  whether  extraordinary  phenomena  of 
any  kind  indicated  some  derangement  in  the  Tao 
of  Man,  causing  the  Tao  of  the  Universe  to  be 
shocked,  offended,  and  deranged,  so  that  calamities 
might  be  the  consequence. 

And,  as  it  has  always  been  the  highest  and  holi- 
est duty  of  the  Sons  of  Heaven  to  keep  the  Tao 
of  Man  in  a  perfect  state  by  their  system  of 
government,  they  always  have  had  in  their  ser- 
vice learned  men  charged  with  the  observation 
and  interpretation  of  phenomena.  Thus,  proper 
measures  might  be  taken  to  avert  threatened 
calamities.     These  measures  looked  chiefly  to  the 

248 


Divinatory  Observation  of  the  Universe    249 


improvement  of  the  Tao  of  Man  by  improvement 
of  the  government. 

Such  official  observation  of  nature  was  always 
considered  to  be  of  statutory  obHgation,  because 
it  is  mentioned  in  the  Shu  king  as  an  institution 
of  the  holy  ancients.  In  one  of  the  books  of  this 
Classic,  the  Hung  fan  or  **  Vast  Plan,"  which  stands 
pre-eminent  among  manuals  for  government,  be- 
cause it  was  given  by  Heaven  itself  to  the  Great 
Yu  as  early  as  the  23d  century  B.C.,  the  objects 
of  governmental  care  are  set  forth;  among  these 
there  is  one,  called  "a  thoughtful  utilisation  of 
the  various  manifestations,"  namely,  in  rainfall, 
simshine,  heat,  cold,  wind,  and  the  seasons. 
"When  these  five  phenomena,"  says  this  holy 
book,  "come  all  complete,  and  each  is  in  its  proper 
order,  all  plants  will  grow  abundantly  and  luxuri- 
antly; but  should  any  of  them  be  too  abundant, 
or  deficient,  calamity  will  be  the  consequence." 

Augural  observation  of  nature  was  early  es- 
tablished in  China  as  a  State  institution.  It  is 
explicitly  stated  in  the  Cheu  li,  that  it  was  the 
function  of  certain  officers,  called  Pao-chang,  to 
read  from  the  stars  the  fate  of  the  subdivisions  of 
the  earth,  which  were  deemed  to  stand  under  the 


250   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


influence  of  the  stars;  and  the  fate  of  the  world 
generally  from  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars.  They 
had  to  make  a  special  study  of  Jupiter,  and  its 
revolution  around  the  sun,  which  still  remains  the 
foundation  of  the  chronomantic  part  of  the  im- 
perial almanac  (cf.  page  205).  They  had  to 
consult  the  clouds  for  prognostication  about  rain 
and  drought,  abimdance  and  dearth,  and  the 
winds  about  harmony  between  Heaven  and  Earth, 
or  about  peace  and  rebellion  in  the  states  of  the 
sovereign.  The  particulars  of  the  system  are 
nowhere  described.  But  from  the  Standard 
Histories  we  learn  that  it  was  elaborated  during 
the  Han  dynasty;  and  since  that  age  it  has  been 
cultivated  by  the  State  without  interruption,  as  a 
standard  institution  of  the  highest  order,  entrusted 
to  the  wisdom  of  special  officers,  and  ultimately 
to  that  of  the  same  body,  called  Khin  t'  ien  Men, 
which  is  charged  with  the  official  chronometry 
and  chronomancy. 

The  literature  on  the  official  augural  observation 
of  nature  is  vast.  It  is  for  the  greater  part  com- 
bined with  official  historiography,  so  that  it  is 
possible  for  any  one  who  can  read  the  Stand- 
ard Histories  to  draw  the  rough  outlines  of  the 


Divinatory  Observation  of  the  Universe     251 


system,  and  depict  the  part  which  it  has  always 
performed. 

Phenomena  were  observed  principally,  and 
perhaps  exclusively,  to  ascertain  whether  govern- 
ment was  defective,  that  is  to  say,  straying  from 
the  Tao,  or  whether  it  was  good,  following  the  Tao 
in  a  proper  manner.  They  were,  accordingly,  dis- 
tinguished by  the  terms  yas  i  or  yas  pien,  "evil- 
portending  deviations  from  the  usual  state,"  and 
siang  sui,  "propitious  tokens.'*  The  former  were 
attended  to  with  peculiar  care.  Indeed,  the  fa- 
vourable phenomena  might  be  overlooked  without 
danger,  but  this  was  not  the  case  with  the  bad, 
as  they  required  serious  measures,  prescribed  by 
tradition  and  wisdom,  to  avert  their  consequences. 
Absence  of  omens  always  indicated  that  there 
were  no  derangements  in  the  Tao  of  the  Universe 
and  Man,  and  that  the  world  was  therefore  safe. 

The  measures  required  by  ominous  phenomena 
were  numerous  and  various.  It  was  the  wisest 
men  who  suggested  them,  the  greatest  scholars, 
the  highest  statesmen;  as  a  rule  also  the  officers 
of  the  Board  of  Observations  themselves.  Special 
sacrifices  were  then  offered  to  divinities  of  the 
State  Religion,  or  prayers  sent  up,  either  by  the 


252    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


emperor  in  person,  or  by  mandarins  delegated 
by  him.  Or  the  emperor  secluded  himself,  fasted, 
abstained  from  speaking,  and  cleansed  himself  in- 
wardly and  outwardly,  or  performed  acts  of  humble 
penitence  and  confession  before  Heaven,  or  before 
Heaven  and  Earth,  weeping  and  wailing  in  com- 
pany with  his  magnates  and  ministers  to  implore 
compassion.  For,  in  virtue  of  his  appointment, 
by  the  Tao  of  the  Universe  itself,  to  the  dignity  of 
highest  guide  of  mankind  in  the  Tao,  his  personal 
conduct  and  the  defects  of  his  rule  must  always  be 
the  first  causes  and  reasons  of  all  dangerous  de- 
rangements in  the  Order  of  the  World.  Anmesties 
were  awarded  by  him  to  criminals,  in  order  that  the 
mercy  thus  displayed  might  rouse  and  stimulate 
that  of  Heaven.  But  often  the  Tao  of  Man  was 
led  back  into  its  right  channel  by  more  radical 
measures,  namely,  a  thorough  purification  of  the 
official  world  from  bad  elements.  History  tells 
us  of  himdreds  of  ministers  and  officers  dismissed, 
degraded,  imprisoned,  and  otherwise  punished  on 
such  occasions,  denounced  by  disparaging  memo- 
rials and  petitions  from  their  rivals  and  enemies. 
Censors  and  dictators  were  sent  to  the  provinces 
with  plenary  authority,  to  separate  the  chafiE  from 


Divinatory  Observation  of  the  Universe    253 


the  wheat,  and  to  bring  about  the  voluntary 
retreat  from  service  of  hundreds  in  order  to  escape 
a  worse  fate.  Mostly,  however,  the  measures  of 
improvement  were  mere  paper.  Admonitions 
and  reprimands  were  sent  by  the  throne  to  the 
official  world,  either  within  the  palace  only,  or  in 
the  capital,  or  throughout  the  provinces,  decreeing 
that  all  as  one  man  should  restore  the  Tao  of  Man, 
and  therewith  that  of  the  Universe,  by  improving 
their  rule.  Or  they  were  admonished  to  reconcile 
the  irritated  Tao  of  Heaven  by  revision  of  their 
private  conduct,  or  by  abstinence  from  festive 
and  congratulatory  ceremonies;  or  they  were 
ordered  to  prohibit  the  killing  of  animals  in  their 
jurisdictions  and  delay  the  execution  of  criminals, 
lest  life-producing  Heaven  should  continue  to 
feel  shocked.  And,  to  facilitate  the  process  of 
revision,  all  the  officers  in  the  empire  were  allowed 
by  decree  to  send  to  the  throne,  for  private  in- 
spection by  the  emperor,  their  criticism  of  the 
conduct  and  measures  of  the  Son  of  Heaven,  his 
court,  and  his  ministers,  as  also  their  views  and 
proposals  regarding  improvement  of  the  govern- 
ment, exemption  from  punishment  for  their  frank- 
ness being  unconditionally  guaranteed.     States- 


^54  Development  of  Religion  in  China 


men  and  scholars  have  also,  of  their  own  accord, 
impelled  by  signs  in  the  Heavens  or  on  the  Earth, 
frequently  presented  memorials  to  oppose  or  to 
recommend  certain  measures. 

With  peculiar  zeal  and  devotion  such  work 
of  mortification,  revision,  and  improvement  was 
taken  in  hand  when  calamities  or  visitations, 
announced  by  portents,  had  really  come.  The 
religious  ethics  of  China,  which,  as  we  have  seen, 
are  Universistic  to  the  core,  here  exhibit  another 
of  their  Universistic  phases  worthy  of  a  deeper 
study;  but  I  can  do  no  more  than  point  to  its 
curious,  slender  basis,  namely,  the  observation  of 
phenomena  in  themselves  perfectly  natural,  but 
deemed  by  minds,  not  schooled  by  correct  science, 
to  be  derangements  of  nature  because  of  their 
uncommon  or  irregular  occurrence. 

We  here  encounter  the  great  method  by  which, 
in  China,  the  Universe  has,  in  all  ages,  been  led 
by  man  himself  to  overrule  the  government,  in 
order  that  the  latter  might  keep  itself  and  the 
human  world,  constantly  and  correctly,  in  the 
right  path  or  Tao  of  the  Universe.  It  is  now  clear 
why  government  in  China  has  always  felt  itself 
under  the  necessity  of  having  a  complete  know- 


Divinatory  Observation  of  the  Universe    255 

ledge  of  all  deviations  of  nature  from  its  ordinary- 
process,  and  why,  in  all  ages,  the  official  world  has 
reported  them  in  great  numbers  from  all  sides. 
We  read  of  imperial  rescripts  regulating  its  duties 
in  this  respect,  and  of  severe  prohibitions  against 
concealment  of  ominous  phenomena.  On  the 
other  hand,  many  emperors  have  forbidden  the 
reporting  of  favourable  signs,  evidently  because 
they  considered  the  perfectness  of  their  own  rule, 
indicated  by  such  signs,  to  be  a  matter  of  course; 
or  it  may  be  that  they  questioned  the  trustworthi- 
ness of  the  reporters,  dexterous  adulators  being 
numerous  in  China.  Nevertheless,  propitious  signs 
are  mentioned  very  often  in  historical  works. 
They  were  so  great  a  source  of  imperial  self-sat- 
isfaction that  they  were  solemnly  reported  to  the 
manes  of  the  imperial  ancestors  and  ancestresses 
in  the  Grand  Temple  of  the  palace.  Or  they  were 
celebrated  with  stately  congratulatory  audiences, 
or  with  an  amnesty,  or  with  distribution  of  boun- 
ties, or  with  the  elevation  of  all  fimctionaries 
to  a  higher  rank.  The  title  of  the  reign  of  the 
emperor,  which  is  always  fixed  with  utmost  care 
because  it  promotes  the  felicity  of  his  rule,  has  in 
such  cases  been  replaced  by  another  alluding  to 


256   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


the  augural  sign,  the  sign  being  thus  perpetuated 
in  history.  Gold  signs  have  been  officially  clas- 
sified according  to  their  value,  for  instance,  as 
superior,  mediocre,  and  inferior  ones.  Especially 
esteemed  were  so-called  shen  kwangy  "divine 
glimpses,"  mysterious  appearances  produced,  even 
in  the  daytime,  by  the  presence  of  gods. 

That  systematic  observation  of  rare  and  extra- 
ordinary phenomena  in  heaven  and  on  earth, 
prescribed  by  the  Universistic  state  poHcy,  has 
never  produced  in  China  a  sound  study  of  nature, 
resulting  in  correct  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  its 
mechanism  and  thus  corroding  the  Universistic 
religion  and  the  whole  moral  and  mental  culture 
based  on  it.  It  has,  however,  produced  long  records 
of  phenomena,  and  calamitous  and  happy  events 
supposed  to  have  been  prophesied  by  them.  Such 
records  have  been  preserved  in  the  twenty-four 
Dynastic  Histories,  in  special  chapters,  in  addition 
to  numerous  notices  recorded  in  other  places. 
Those  chapters  are  mostly  entitled  "records  con- 
cerning the  five  elements."  In  fact,  the  earliest 
classification  of  phenomena  was  according  to  fire, 
water,  earth,  wood,  and  metal, — the  five  compo- 
nents of  the  Universe.     Those  chapters  contain 


Divinatory  Observation  of  the  Universe    257 


also  in  many  cases  the  interpretations  of  the 
phenomena,  as  also  the  events  which  they  fore- 
tokened. Such  interpretations  were  obtained  by 
the  manipulation  of  many  factors,  the  principal 
of  which  the  reader  already  knows.  The  five 
elements  correspond  with  the  seasons,  and  with 
the  southern,  northern,  central,  eastern,  and 
western  divisions  of  the  world  (page  169).  The 
natural  divisions  of  time  and  the  cardinal  points 
are  denominated  by  the  ten  ''stems'*  and  the 
twelve  "branches,"  and  by  the  binominals  formed 
by  combination  of  the  same  (page  235).  It  was, 
accordingly,  always  possible  to  study  the  pheno- 
mena in  connection  with  time  and  place.  Besides, 
interpreters  might  always  draw  from  the  wisdom 
of  earlier  times,  found  in  himdreds  of  writings, 
among  which  the  Classics  and  other  ancient  books, 
especially  the  Tso  ch  'wen,  stood  pre-eminent ;  and 
they  had  in  hand,  furthermore,  the  long  records  of 
phenomena,  and  their  interpretations  made  by  the 
official  diviners  of  preceding  dynasties.  Many 
of  these  writings  are  still  preserved,  though  not 
always  in  a  complete  state.  We  need  not  again  em- 
phasise the  fact  that  in  China  traditional  wisdom, 
especially  if  it  is  written,  is  received  as  author- 
17 


258   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


itativc  truth,  because  it  is  a  legacy  from  the 
ancestors,  who  are  national  gods. 

The  irregularities  or  derangements  in  the  Uni- 
verse are  classified  by  the  Chinese  according  to 
the  parts  of  Heaven  and  Earth  in  which  they  are 
produced. 

The  first  class  contains  the  t  Hen  pien,  "devia- 
tions in  the  sky,'*  such  as  strange  colours  or  sudden 
changes  of  colour,  clouds  bursting  open,  displaying 
armies  or  blood-coloured  streams  of  light;  dense 
clouds,  covering  the  sky  everywhere,  without 
shedding  a  drop  of  rain;  voices  resoimding  in  the 
air,  etc.  Jihi,  "solar  deviations,"  and  yueh, 
"lunar  deviations,"  were  always  noted  with  pecu- 
liar care:  for  example,  spots,  protuberances, 
halos  and  their  colours,  strange  colorations  round 
these  luminaries,  parhelia.  The  most  important 
deviations  were  eclipses;  and  it  is  to  their  high 
significance,  as  tokens  of  the  Tao  of  the  Universe, 
that  we  are  indebted  for  the  fact  that  so  many  have 
been  recorded  in  ancient  books,  especially  in  the 
Tso  ch  'wen  and  the  Shu  king.  They  are  recorded 
by  hundreds  in  the  standard  histories.  Accord- 
ing to  the  present  imperial  statutes  for  the  Khin 
t  Hen  kien,  this  Institute  must  inform  the  throne 


Divinatory  Observation  of  the  Universe     259 


about  all  coming  eclipses,  and  carefully  observe 
them,  in  order  to  draw  prognostics. 

The  observation  of  the  sing  pien,  "deviations 
of  the  stars  and  planets,'*  represents  what  we  call 
astrology,  the  main  and  most  extensive  branch 
of  the  official  system  of  divination  of  nature  up 
to  the  present  time.  Its  cultivation  is  impera- 
tively imposed  upon  government  also  by  the  holy 
Yih  king,  which  says:  "Heaven  hangs  out  its 
figures,  which  announce  felicity  or  evil,  and  holy 
men  shall  conform  their  actions  with  them."' 
Such  a  holy  man  the  ruling  Son  of  Heaven  always 
is;  and  it  is,  accordingly,  for  Confucian  reasons 
that  the  Khin  thien  kien  of  this  dynasty  has  a 
special  t  Hen  wen  kho,  "Bureau  for  the  figures  of 
Heaven." 

Astrology  embraces  observation  of  the  changes 
in  the  aspect  and  brightness  of  the  stars  and 
planets,  their  conjunctions  with  the  sun  and  the 
moon,  and  their  position  at  eclipses ;  further,  the 
musical  times  and  other  sounds  said  to  be  emitted 
by  stars  and  planets;  the  visibility  of  Venus  in 
the  daytime,  and  so  on.     The  names  of  stars  and 

*  Appendix  Hi-ts'ze,  I. 


26o   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


constellations  (many  of  which  may  be  as  old  as  the 
days  of  Babylon  and  Egypt)  indicated,  even  as 
early  as  the  classical  age,  the  influences  of  those 
luminaries  on  the  business  of  man  and  his  govern- 
ment, as  also  calamities,  diseases,  etc.  Moreover, 
each  subdivision  of  the  territory  of  the  Son  of 
Heaven  was  placed  imder  the  rule  of  a  part  of  the 
starry  sky,  in  accordance  with  a  system,  called 
jen  ye,  "allotment  to  the  celestial  fields/'  Astro- 
logical factors  of  especial  importance  were  twenty- 
five  principal  constellations,  called  siu,  and  the 
conjunctions  or  so-called  "collisions"  of  planets 
with  these  and  other  asterisms.  Highly  important 
for  official  astrology  was,  of  course,  the  zone 
around  the  pole,  the  stars  in  which  represent 
the  emperor  and  his  court,  his  residence  and 
ministers.  And  last,  but  not  least,  the  so-called 
"flowing  stars,"  or  comets,  their  movements 
through  the  stars,  and  their  conjunctions  with 
the  planets  were  celestial  signs  of  great  significance ; 
so  also  were  "falling  stars,"  "falling  stones,"  and 
"star  rains"  or  meteoric  showers.  The  official 
Standard  Histories  devote,  as  a  rule,  special 
chapters  to  these  phenomena. 

Observation   of   winds,   clouds,   rain,    thunder 


Divinatory  Observation  of  the  Universe    261 


and  lightning  was  ever  a  state  affair  of  the  highest 
order.  The  statutes  for  the  Khin  t  'ten  kien  pre- 
scribe that  this  Institute  shall,  at  the  beginning 
and  in  the  middle  of  each  of  the  four  solar  seasons, 
perform  divination  rites  with  regard  to  the  winds, 
and  that  it  shall  divine  about  thunder  as  soon  as 
the  first  clap  is  heard  in  the  spring.  Winds  were 
observed  with  peculiar  attention,  because  clouds 
and  rain,  but  for  which  the  human  race  cannot 
produce  food  and  live,  are  dominated  by  the  mon- 
soons or  periodical  winds.  It  has  ever  been  a 
Universistic  law,  announced  by  the  Li  ki  in  its 
''Book  on  Music"  (page  112),  that  **it  is  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  Tao  of  Heaven  and  Earth  that 
famine  shall  prevail  if  winds  and  rains  do  not  come 
at  their  proper  periods."  The  augural  study  of 
wind  and  rain  is  most  closely  connected  with 
astrology,  since  it  has  been  declared  by  the  book 
Hung  fan  of  the  Shu  king  (page  250) 

"that  the  people  must  examine  the  stars,  be- 
cause there  are  among  these  some  which  have 
a  good  influence  upon  the  winds,  and  some  which 
further  rainfall,  and  because  the  course  of  the 
moon  among  the  stars  produces  wind  and  rain." 


262   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


It  is  an  explicit  statement  of  the  Cheu  li  that, 
during  the  Cheu  dynasty  (i2th-3d  centiny  B.C.), 
the  observation  of  clouds,  rain,  drought,  abun- 
dance, and  dearth,  and  of  the  winds,  with  respect  to 
harmony  between  Heaven  and  Earth,  producing 
either  peace  or  rebellion,  was  a  function  of  the 
court  astrologers. 

Chinese  philosophy,  ancient  and  modem, 
I  teaches  that  wind  is  the  breath  of  the  Universe, 
a  mixture  of  Yang  and  Yin,  containing  more  Yang 
in  summer,  and  more  Yin  in  winter;  accordingly 
it  is  in  a  measure  the  Tao  itself,  so  that  its  irregu- 
larities must  be  supremely  significant.  Owing  to 
this  theory,  an  enormous  amount  of  meteorologic 
wisdom  has  been  gathered  for  the  sake  of  the 
human  race,  principally  tending  to  predict,  from 
the  direction  and  strength  of  the  wind  on  each  day 
of  the  year,  its  direction  on  coming  days,  and 
consequently  the  chances  of  rainfall  or  sunshine, 
floods  or  harvests.  Assertions  of  wise  men  of 
former  days,  set  forth  for  a  great  part  in  books, 
have  continuously  propped  this  science.  This 
science  teaches  that  the  winds  derive  their  char- 
acters from  the  parts  of  the  Universe  whence  they 
blow.     As  a  consequence,  they  have  the  character- 


Divinatory  Observation  of  the  Universe     263 


istics  of  the  human  passions,  because  these  are 
assimilated  with  the  north,  south,  east,  and  west.  * 
It  is,  therefore,  possible  to  foretell  from  the  wind 
what  human  passions  will  predominate,  and  what 
corresponding  event  shall  therefrom  result,  such 
as  rebellions  [produced  by  anger],  general  panics 
and  migrations  of  people  [which  are  fruits  of 
fear],  and  so  on.  Prognostics  may  also  be  drawn 
from  winds  by  carefully  determining  their  musical 
tones,  because  human  wisdom  discovered  long 
ago  that  every  day  of  the  calendar  is  influenced 
by  one  of  the  five  notes  of  the  gamut. 

In  the  army,  astromancy  is  extensively  practised 
as  a  very  useful  art.  By  a  judicious  use  of  the 
statements  of  ancient  and  modem  sages  it  may  be 
discovered  from  the  winds  and  their  directions 
whether  an  enemy  is  an  overmatch,  or  from  which 
side  he  will  begin  the  attack,  or  whether  it  is  ad- 
visable to  offer  battle  or  to  retreat.  Whirlwinds 
are  subjects  of  special  observations,  studies,  and 
theories.  Gales  and  typhoons  are  recorded  in  the 
Standard  Histories  in  great  abundance. 

Not  less  numerous  are  the  recorded  cases  of 
excessive  rainfall,  destroying  crops  and  causing 

^  Cf.  the  table  on  p.  169. 


264   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


floods,  which  were  averted  or  not  averted  by 
means  of  special  sacrifices  instituted  by  the  State 
Religion.  Timely  rainfall,  indispensable  for  the 
production  of  food,  generally  proved  that  the 
Order  of  the  World  is  in  a  soimd  and  proper  con- 
dition; accordingly,  it  forebodes  happiness.  Yet 
rains  may  sometimes  be  the  tears  which  Heaven 
weeps  because  great  evil  is  imminent.  Certain 
rainy  or  rainless  days,  especially  when  the  sim  is 
in  conjunction  with  stars  which  control  rain,  are 
sure  to  predict  rain  or  sunshine  on  other  days. 
Rain  is  foreboded  also  by  clouds  of  certain  shapes 
in  the  proximity  of  such  stars.  But  evil  is  always 
in  store  if  it  rains  other  things  than  water;  recon- 
cilement or  reparation  of  the  Tao  of  the  Universe 
and  Man,  by  means  of  measures  which  we  have 
mentioned,  is  then  urgent.  According  to  the  au- 
thentic official  Standard  Histories,  there  is  hardly 
anything  which  the  Heavens  have  not  rained  in 
China.  They  have  sent  down  clay,  mud,  stones, 
sand,  ashes,  birds,  fishes,  tortoises,  insects,  men, 
blood,  hairs,  feathers,  bones,  flesh  and  grease, 
red  snow,  quicksilver,  coins,  gold,  silver,  and  iron, 
foil,  silk  and  cotton,  ink,  paper,  shrubs,  leaves, 
flowers,    com,    beans,    weapons,   and    caldrons. 


Divinatory  Observation  of  the  Universe     265 


China  is  a  country  of  great  and  numerous 
wonders. 

Clouds,  because  of  their  endless  variety  of  forms 
and  colours,  have  always  been  excellent  signs  of 
the  condition  of  nature.  When  they  suddenly 
appear  near  stars  which  rule  the  conditions  of 
human  life,  they  may  be  either  favourable  or  un- 
favourable signs;  they  are  highly  significant  also 
when  they  appear  near  the  sun  or  moon,  or  in  the 
shape  of  halos.  Even  such  important  events  as 
the  rise  of  adventurers  to  imperial  dignity  have 
been  annotmced  by  clouds.  Their  drifting  against 
the  wind,  or  their  immobility  at  windy  times,  or 
their  movements  generally,  prognosticate  coming 
weather  and  events.  For  prognostications  of  this 
kind  careful  attention  was  paid  also  to  fogs  of 
various  colours,  and  to  dew  appearing  at  dawn 
and  sunset.  No  dew  was  so  propitious  as  *' sweet 
dew"  or  "celestial  wine,"  that  is,  honey-dew.  It 
always  announced  luxurious  growth  and  abun- 
dance restdting  in  prolongation  of  human  life ;  no 
wonder  then  that  it  is  mentioned  with  peculiar 
frequency  in  the  books  of  history. 

Rainbows,  being,  like  the  winds,  composed  of 
Yang  and  Yin,  were  naturally  considered  to  be 


266   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


excellent  means  of  investigating  the  Tao  and  its 
derangements.  Their  colours  and  the  times  of 
their  appearances  were  observed,  and  simultaneous 
conditions  of  the  stars  and  planets  studied.  In 
dry  times  they  foreboded  rain,  in  rainy  times, 
clear  weather.  Pale  rainbows  were  always  tm- 
favourable  omens. 

Thunder,  the  herald  of  rain,  is  always  a  propi- 
tious phenomenon;  but  if,  imder  certain  circum- 
stances, it  brings  no  rain,  it  may  forebode  evil. 
For  this  reason  it  is  taken  notice  of  especially  in 
winter,  the  rainless  season.  Lightning,  which 
strikes  men  or  objects,  always  betokens  evil, 
even  great  calamities,  such  as  attacks  by  rebels 
or  enemies  acting  as  instruments  of  the  rage  of 
Heaven.  Should  lightning  strike  a  city  gate,  it 
betokens  disloyal  officers,  dislocating  the  Tao  of 
Man  by  secretly  plotting  sedition  and  insurrection. 
And  if  the  ancestral  temple  of  the  dynasty  is  struck 
by  the  fire  of  Heaven,  the  emperor  shall  be  de- 
throned and  his  house  destroyed. 

Hail  is  produced  when  the  Yang  and  the  Yin 
collide.  It  is,  therefore,  always  inauspicious. 
The  evil  which  it  predicts  differs  according  to  the 
seasons  in  which  it  falls ;  it  is  inconsiderable  in  win- 


Divinatory  Observation  of  the  Universe    267 

ter.  Its  effect  upon  roof  tiles,  vegetation  crops, 
tame  birds  and  cattle,  supplies  man  with  numerous 
factors  from  which  coming  evil  may  be  calculated. 
If  it  falls  thick  as  snow,  it  is  particularly  ominous 
for  the  government,  being  in  this  case  a  sign  that 
ministers  are  plotting  regicide. 

Important  derangements  of  the  Tao,  which  al- 
ways demand  attention  and  reparation,  are 
untimely  waves  of  cold  and  heat,  destructively 
affecting  vegetation  and  harvests.  They  may 
even  bring  disease  and  plague ;  indeed  the  classical 
*'Book  on  Music"  explicitly  declares:  "It  is  in 
accordance  with  the  Tao  of  Heaven  and  Earth 
that  disease  shall  prevail  when  cold  and  warm 
weather  do  not  come  in  due  time."  Measures  of 
reconcilement  and  reparation  were  taken  with  the 
greatest  zeal  and  devotion  when  such  plagues 
were  really  rife.  The  same  was  the  case  whenever 
conflagrations,  breaking  out  in  a  mysterious  way 
in  the  palace  or  in  some  temple  of  the  State  Reli- 
gion, indicated  that  the  pimishing  hand  of  Heaven 
was  laid  on  the  dynasty. 

The  same  careful  attention  which  the  Univers- 
istic  government  of  China  has,  in  all  times,  paid 
to  the  premonitions  of  Heaven,  it  could  not  reason- 


268    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


ably  refuse  to  those  of  the  Earth,  the  other  great 
half  of  the  world. 

Extraordinary  terrestrial  phenomena,  inter- 
preted as  derangements  of  the  Tao,  have  been 
officially  observed  and  recorded  in  China  by 
thousands.  Observers  and  interpreters  started 
from  the  principle  that  any  motion  in  the  ground 
portended  evil,  since  the  normal  nature  of  Earth 
is  stability.  Earthquakes  signified  that  the  re- 
spect of  the  ministers  for  the  ruler  was  gone,  so 
that  rebellion  was  imminent,  with  war,  bloodshed, 
arson,  destruction  of  crops,  famine,  plague,  and 
other  evils,  nay,  even  dethronement  of  the  Son  of 
Heaven.  Their  significance  was,  however,  modi- 
fied by  the  times  in  which  they  occurred,  as  also 
by  the  character  of  the  buildings  which  they 
destroyed,  and  other  circumstances.  Since  eleva- 
tions of  the  ground  are  the  emblems  of  the  high 
state-servants,  landslides  indicated  their  disloyalty. 
But  since  mountains  represent  the  emperor  also, 
landslides  may  betoken  a  collapse  of  his  Tao,  so 
that,  but  for  a  most  earnest  revision  and  reparation 
of  his  private  and  official  conduct,  a  revolution  in 
his  states  and  the  subversion  of  his  throne  cannot 
be  escaped.     Disloyalty  of  the  ministers  is  revealed 


Divinatory  Observation  of  the  Universe    269 


also  by  the  Universe  whenever  any  mountain 
emits  a  strange  glare.  And  if  the  ground  bursts, 
or  vomits  fire,  water,  or  blood ;  or  when  some  rock 
spontaneously  rises  out  of  the  ground,  or  moves 
from  its  place,  or  assumes  the  shape  of  a  man, 
quadruped,  or  bird,  or  speaks  human  language;  - 
or  when  the  thunder  resoimds  from  a  cave — then, 
rebellion,  revolution,  and  other  political  dangers 
are  seriously  threatening  the  world. 

The  Earth  represents  the  female  half  of  the. 
Universe.     Hence,   should  it  emit  loud  sounds,  k 
a  powerful  stir  of  feminism  is  imminent,  even 
mastership  of  the  harem  in  the  imperial  court,  so 
that   measures  of  repression  are  urgent.     Sub- 
terranean voices  are  peciiliarly  to  be  feared  if  they 
come  forth  from  graves ;  and  very  terrific  also  are 
tombs  that  move,  or  trees,  growing  on  graves, 
that  die  without  apparent  cause;  and  so  are  lines'  f 
and  spots  which  appear  on  rocks,  should  wise  and ' 
learned  men,  called  upon  to  decipher  them,  declare 
them  to  be  admonitions  in  mysterious  current 
handwriting. 

If  water  is  reported  to  behave  in  uncommon  ^^ 
ways,  the  case  must  be  officially  treated  in  most' 
serious  fashion.     A  large  stream,  like  the  Hwangho 


270   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


or  the  Yangtsze-kiang,  will  naturally  never  cease 
to  flow;  but  if  it  does,  a  stagnation  in  the  machin- 
ery of  government  is  impending — the  fruit  of  ill- 
will  in  the  mandarinate.  Inimdations,  thousands 
of  which  have  been  reported,  recorded,  and  inter- 
preted during  the  long  existence  of  the  empire, 
signify  rebellion;  or,  since  water  belongs  to  the 
Yin,  they  indicate  preponderance  of  the  weaker 
sex,  endangering  the  destiny  of  the  ruling  emperor, 
as  well  as  the  correct  and  happy  condition  of 
domestic  life  among  the  people.  A  brook  or  well, 
suddenly  drying  up  in  a  mysterious  way  indicates 
that  the  people  in  the  locality  will  have  to  emigrate 
for  want  of  water,  or  to  become  vagrants,  or  that 
they  will  be  driven  away  by  force  of  arms.  Par- 
ticular ill-omens  also  are  changes  in  the  colour  of 
water,  especially  if  it  becomes  red  as  blood,  or  so 
foul  that  the  fish  die.  But  should  it  lose  its 
turbidity  and  become  limpid,  the  prognostication 
is  always  favourable.  A  spring  that  suddenly 
gurgles  and  bubbles  with  extraordinary  vehemence 
indicates  that  officials  of  the  lowest  ranks  will 
receive  quick  promotion;  and  strange  things 
perceived  in  water  are  interpreted  in  all  ways 
and  manners. 


Divinatory  Observation  of  the  Universe     271 


The  third  place  in  the  constitution  of  the  Uni- 
verse is  occupied  by  man,  who  is  animated  by  its 
dual  soul  (the  Yang  and  the  Yin),  as  well  as  all 
other  visible  beings  in  Heaven  and  on  Earth. 
Derangements  in  the  Order  of  the  World  and  the 
Tao  of  Man  may  therefore  manifest  themselves 
by  strange  phenomena  in  his  life.  In  the  Standard 
Histories,  records  of  these  phenomena  fill  many 
pages.  They  afford  curious  reading.  They  men- 
tion cases  of  sudden  change  of  sex,  foretelling  that 
a  woman  will  take  in  hand  the  reins  of  government, 
or  that  somebody  of  low  descent  will  motmt  the 
throne.  They  inform  us  of  cases  of  monstrous 
births,  in  every  variety,  foreboding  misfortunes  of 
a  himdred  kinds,  according  to  the  shape  of  the 
monster;  for  instance,  hermaphrodites;  shapeless 
lumps  of  flesh ;  a  hundred  babies,  of  the  size  of  a 
finger,  produced  at  one  birth;  tortoises,  snakes,  or 
other  beasts;  two  or  three  different  animals  born 
together;  or  one  child  with  one  or  two  animals. 
Not  seldom  there  have  been  three  or  four  children 
at  a  birth,  and  some  such  thing  has  occurred  to  one 
and  the  same  mother  four  times  successively. 
Children  or  animals  have  found  their  way  out  of 
the  wombs  of  women  through  the  navel,  the  flank, 


2']2    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


the  breast,  the  head,  or  through  an  ulcer.  Unborn 
children  have  cried  within  the  womb,  or  have 
spoken  intelligible  language  immediately  after 
birth.  Women  have  changed  themselves  into 
tortoises  or  crocodiles,  men  into  donkeys,  snakes, 
pigs,  or  carnivorous  animals,  either  partly,  or 
completely.  Very  young  children  have,  quite  of 
their  own  accord,  mounted  city  walls  to  beat 
alarm  drums,  thus  annoimcing  invasions  of  rebels 
or  bloodthirsty  enemies.  Headless  corpses  have 
loudly  spoken  prophetic  words.  Insane  persons 
have  uttered  correct  predictions,  and  have  not 
seldom  been  killed  immediately  after  having  done 
so,  lest  their  ominous  words  should  be  fulfilled. 
There  have  been  numerous  cases  of  horns  growing 
out  of  human  heads,  and  of  whiskers  growing  on 
young  women's  faces.  Husbands  have  devoured 
their  wives,  and  wives  their  husbands.  Children 
have  suddenly  grown  up  to  an  extraordinary  size, 
even  to  a  gigantic  stature.  Giants  and  their 
footprints  have  appeared  and  disappeared  mysteri- 
ously. Revival  of  the  dead  has  been  of  common 
occurrence,  even  after  they  had  been  buried  many 
years;  such  resurrections  presaged  plagues,  de- 
vastating wars,  etc. 


Divinatory  Observation  of  the  Universe     273 


In  this  systematic  observing  and  interpreting 
of  freaks  of  human  nature,  a  large  place  has  been 
occupied,  in  all  historical  times,  by  spontaneous 
utterances  heard  in  streets  and  markets  or  else- 
where, and  carefully  reported  to  the  magistrates 
as  oracles.  Such  revelations  of  human  nature  were 
particularly  studied  and  interpreted  if  they  came 
from  the  mouths  of  children,  no  doubt  because  in 
such  cases  they  could  hardly  be  suspected  to  be 
products  of  cimning  premeditation ;  and  as  we  find 
them  mostly  denoted  by  the  term  "sayings  of 
boys,**  the  suggestion  is  allowable  that  those  of 
boys  were  of  superior  value,  the  male  sex  being 
assimilated  with  the  Yang,  and  accordingly  ani- 
mated with  more  divine  shen  substance  than  the 
female.  This  method  of  soothsaying  is  very  old. 
A  case  is  mentioned  by  Sz^-ma  Ts  'ien  from  the 
reign  of  king  Yiu,  in  the  eighth  century  B.C.,  and 
many  are  recorded  in  all  the  Standard  Histories 
and  various  other  books. 

Derangements  of  the  Tao  may,  of  course,  also 
manifest  themselves  by  strange  phenomena  and 
occurrences  in  the  world  of  animals  and  plants, 
which  are  also  animated  parts  of  the  Universe. 
As  early  as  the  classical  age,  certain  rare  birds  of 
18 


274   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


great  beauty,  caXLedfung  hwang,  and  strange  quad- 
rupeds, named  ki  lin,  sometimes  appeared  as  har- 
bingers of  good  fortime,  and,  according  to  reports 
duly  recorded  in  the  Standard  Histories,  they  did  so 
also  himdreds  of  times  in  historical  ages.  Ki  lin, 
especially  white  specimens,  have  even  been  cap- 
tured from  time  to  time.  Dragons,  the  emblems  of 
clouds  and  rains,  and  therefore  also  the  symbols  of 
the  imperial  dignity  and  its  benignant  influence, 
have  risen  many  times  from  large  rivers  to  fore- 
token great  prosperity  for  the  Son  of  Heaven  and 
his  government  and  people.  But  these  worthy 
animals  are  too  august,  too  majestic  to  show 
themselves  ordinarily  to  the  profane  eyes  of  man. 
Therefore,  if  they  do  show  themselves,  leaving  their 
palatial  mansion  in  the  celestial  spheres,  there 
evidently  is  some  derangement  in  the  Tao,  corre- 
sponding to  a  dislocation  of  the  Tao  of  the  em- 
peror, caused,  for  example,  by  the  fact  that  he  does 
not  reign  correctly  in  accordance  with  the  seasons. 
Each  of  the  five  large  divisions  of  the  Universe  has 
its  special  dragons,  blue,  red,  white,  black,  or  yellow, 
respectively,  like  the  east,  south,  west,  north,  or 
the  centre.  Therefore  the  colour  of  every  dragon 
which  is  seen  in  the  sky  must  be  carefully  reported. 


Divinatory  Observation  of  the  Universe    275 


to  enable  interpreters  to  explain  the  case  in  con- 
nection with  various  Universistic  factors  allied 
with  the  five  divisions  of  the  world  (see  the  table 
on  page  169).  Under  normal  conditions,  no 
dragons  should  ever  be  seen.  Should  a  dragon  be 
discovered  in  a  well,  for  instance,  in  the  shape  of 
a  lizard  or  chameleon,  it  is  evident  that  imperial 
virtue  and  blessing  are  in  straits  because  officers 
are  plotting;  and  if  a  dead  dragon  is  found  some- 
where, then  the  Son  of  Heaven  will  either  die,  or 
be  replaced  on  the  throne  by  another. 

Official  zoomancy  and  omiscopy  have,  of  course,!/ 
always  consisted  principally  in  observation  and 
study  of  aberrations  of  animals  from  their  common 
habits  and  shapes.  Birds  portended  evil  by  their 
curious  flight  and  voice,  or  by  their  migration  or 
breeding  at  unusual  times  and  in  imusual  ways, 
or  by  nesting  in  extraordinary  places,  or  by  burn- 
ing their  own  nests;  furthermore,  by  uncommon 
colouring  of  their  feathers,  by  their  metamorphosis 
into  other  birds,  etc.  Fowls  were  observed  with 
peculiar  attention.  By  changing  into  cocks  or 
crowing  hens  they  foretold  that  the  emperor  would 
be  defeated,  or  that  empresses  or  empress-dowagers 
would  soon  wield  supreme  power.     If  a  hen  had  a 


276    Development  of  Religion  in  China 

third  leg,  this  imported  that  the  ruler  was  reigning 
under  female  influence,  so  that  great  misfortime 
was  imminent ;  and  serious  consequences  were  also 
V?  to  be  expected  if  cocks  had  horns,  or  spoke  in 
human  speech,  or  laid  eggs. 

Prognostications  were  drawn  from  large  and 
curious  fishes  or  tortoises  captured  or  seen  in  the 
water  or  in  the  air,  or  falling  down  from  the  sky- 
in  considerable  numbers.  In  all  periods  reports 
have  been  recorded  of  serpents  with  six  legs  or 
strangely  coloured  skins;  of  snakes  which  glided 
into  the  palace  or  into  ordinary  dwelling-houses, 
as  signs  of  the  approach  of  murderous  soldiery  or 
armed  rebels;  of  strange-looking  animals  of  every 
description;  six-footed  mammals;  horses  with 
horns  or  long,  fleshy,  hairy,  tails ;  foxes  with  nine 
tails;  white  tigers,  white  stags,  white  rats  or  mice. 
There  have  been  frequent  reports  of  the  appear- 
ance or  capture  of  white  rabbits  (mostly  consid- 
ered as  harbingers  of  good  fortune),  of  swallows 
and  finches,  blue  or  white  crows  and  magpies, 
ravens  with  three  or  four  legs,  and  double-headed 
birds.  Occasionally,  the  strange  animals  were 
sent  up  along  with  the  reports.  Further,  ferocious 
beasts  have  entered  cities  as  heralds  of  the  Order 


Divinatory  Observation  of  the  Universe     277 


of  the  Universe,  and  by  howHng  in  the  streets  or 
upon  the  walls  have  announced  something  which 
(the  date  and  other  factors  properly  considered) 
presaged  the  depopulation  or  ruin  of  the  city,  or 
some  other  great  evil.  Troops  of  wolves  have 
destroyed  many  lives  in  order  to  signalise  the  total 
absence  of  Tao  from  the  imperial  government. 
Foxes  have  announced  the  ruin  of  emperors  by 
running  into  their  palaces,  or  into  their  private 
sleeping-rooms.  Domestic  animals  have  given 
birth  to  monsters  of  every  description;  mares 
have  produced  twins,  stones,  and  men,  and 
stallions  colts.  Cows  have  spoken  like  human 
beings ;  they  have  copulated  with  horses,  producing 
monsters  or  twins,  or  tmicoms.  Dogs  have  cop- 
ulated with  pigs,  nay,  with  women.  Swine  have 
given  birth  to  elephants.  But  the  details  are 
endless.  Prognostications  have  been  based  on 
insects,  flies,  and  crickets,  and  on  bees,  swarms  of 
which  were  considered  ominous,  especially  in  time 
of  warfare.  Admonitions  have  been  supplied  in 
large  numbers  by  trees  and  shrubs  growing  into 
or  towards  each  other  in  curious  ways,  or  produc- 
ing strange  flowers  or  fruits,  or  flowers  and  fruits 
of  other  plants.     They  have  been  supplied  by 


278   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


withered,  dry,  or  rotten  trunks  which  covered 
themselves  with  foliage  or  flowers ;  from  fallen  trees 
rising  up  spontaneously ;  from  trees  and  shrubs  pro- 
ducing leaves  and  blossoms  in  winter,  or  crying, 
howling,  or  bleeding.  The  list  is  endless,  since 
there  is  nothing  in  China  in  which  the  living  soul 
of  the  Universe  does  not  dwell. 

Is  it  a  wonder  then  that  in  this  land  bells  and 
drums,  touched  by  nobody,  have  of  their  own 
accord  often  emitted  sounds  that  predicted  an 
onset  of  enemies  and  insurgents,  or  other  terrible 
events?  Is  it  astonishing  that  noises,  produced 
by  gates  and  doors  in  the  palace  of  the  Son  of 
Heaven,  have  been  carefully  noted,  recorded,  and 
interpreted  as  forecasts  of  sedition  or  some  other 
great  evil  in  the  imperial  family?  Is  it  strange 
that  careful  attention  has  been  generally  given  to 
spontaneous  sounds  of  pans,  dishes,  pots,  utensils, 
or,  in  the  military  camps,  to  sounds  of  weapons, 
generally  interpreted  as  prognostics  of  defeat  or 
other  military  discomfiture?  Belief  has  never 
been  refused  to  reports  of  miracles  connected  with 
images  of  gods  or  buddhas  that  move,  sigh,  weep, 
or  sweat  water  or  blood,  or  even  cast  off  their 
heads.     Such    visible  premonitions    very   likely 


Divinatory  Observation  of  the  Universe     279 


occtirred  more  frequently  even  than  apparitions 
of  gods  or  immortals  as  messengers  from  the  Uni- 
verse pronouncing  warnings  and  oracles.  Mysteri- 
ous howlings  or  pipings,  ascribed  to  devils,  have, 
of  course,  at  all  times  signified  coming  evil. 

Belief  in  the  animation  of  everything  in  \h.ey^ 
world  has  been  utilised  on  a  large  scale  by  the 
Chinese  of  every  age  to  consult  spirits  on  all  sorts 
of  human  business,  even  on  affairs  of  State  of  the 
highest  importance,  in  order  to  ascertain  before- 
hand whether  they  would  bring  good  fortune  or 
not.  This  has  been  the  practice  of  emperors, 
ministers,  and  officers,  as  well  as  of  the  common  ^ 
people.  Gods  of  all  kinds  have  been  interrogated 
either  verbally,  or  by  means  of  written  letters, 
which,  being  burned,  were  received  and  read  by 
them  and  answered  in  various  ways.  They  give 
their  answers  by  mediums,  male  or  female,  called 
wu  and  hih, — a  numerous  class,  the  existence  of 
which  is  mentioned  in  the  most  ancient  books, 
so  that  we  may  suppose  it  to  have  been  the  priest- 
hood of  China  in  the  primeval  animistic  age. 
The  gods,  descending  into  those  priests  or  priest- 
esses answered  through  their  mouths  in  an 
unintelligible  language,   interpreted  by  experts. 


28o   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


Or  the  divine  answer  was  read  from  lots,  believed 
to  be  drawn  under  direct  influence  of  the  god.  Or 
it  was  obtained  by  means  of  two  blocks  made  of 
a  kidney-shaped  piece  of  bamboo  root,  or  wood, 
by  splitting  it  lengthwise,  so  that  each  block  had 
a  flat  and  a  convex  side.  The  question  having 
been  put  in  such  form  that  the  spirit  might  confine 
itself  to  a  simple  "yes"  or  **no,**  the  blocks  were 
piously  dropped  to  the  ground ;  and  if  they  showed 
the  two  convex  sides  or  the  two  flat  faces,  the 
answer  was  negative,  while  one  flat  and  one  convex 
side  was  an  affirmative  answer.  Gods  and  spirits 
have  been  consulted  also  on  a  most  extensive  scale 
by  means  of  rods,  sieves,  brooms,  and  other  objects 
into  which  they  descended,  and  which  were  held 
in  the  hand  or  loosely  suspended,  thus  making 
oracular  scribblings  in  dust,  sand,  or  bran,  de- 
ciphered by  experts. 

In  all  known  times,  two  divining  methods  have 
been  used  officially  for  State  affairs  with  special 
predilection.  Considerations  that  cannot  be  de- 
termined now  led  the  ancient  Chinese  to  the  be- 
lief that  a  certain  plant,  called  shi,  was  imbued 
with  an  extraordinary  supply  of  shen  substance, 
and,  therefore,  peculiarly  suited  to  divination.    A 


Divinatory  Observation  of  the  Universe     281 


number  of  its  stalks,  some  entire,  some  broken, 
were  so  manipulated  as  to  give  combinations, 
called  kway  which  were  then  interpreted  by  means 
of  oracular  sentences  contained  in  the  Yih  kingy 
and,  probably,  in  some  other  books  which  are  lost. 
The  Yih  king  is  indeed  a  special  book  of  Universistic 
divination,  more  holy  and  eminent  than  any  other 
because  it  is  the  oldest  of  the  kind,  and  has  been 
handed  down  from  the  holy  men  of  the  classical 
age.  Its  mysticism  is  so  sublime  that  Confucius 
himself  exclaimed : 

"If  several  years  of  life  were  granted  me,  I 
would  give  fifty  to  the  study  of  the  Yihj  and 
then  I  might  Hve  without  any  considerable 
errors." 

The  other  method,  frequently  mentioned  in  the 
Classics,  employed  tortoise-shells,  tortoises  being 
intensely  animated  because  some  live  so  long.  By 
scorching  the  shells  with  iron  instruments,  lines 
and  spots  were  produced  from  which  oracles 
might  be  read.  Also  oneiromancy  was  generally 
practised,  because  the  ancients,  according  to  old 
books,  set  great  value  on  this  art.     Dreams,  it  was 


282    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


held,  were  real  manifestations  of  the  human  soul, 
being  its  actual  experiences  and  adventures  while 
wandering  outside  the  body  among  spiritual  beings. 
We  have  now  taken  a  survey  of  the  way  in  which 
emperors  in  all  ages  have  devoutly  governed  the 
empire  with  as  much  adjustment  to  the  Universe 
as  their  science  could  secure.  They  have  thus 
strictly  obeyed  a  classical  rescript,  found  in  the 
Li  yufiy  which  reads  as  follows : 

"When  the  holy  men  make  rules  of  life,  they 
must  make  Heaven  and  Earth  the  root  thereof, 
the  Yin  and  the  Yang  (the  Tao)  the  principle, 
the  four  seasons  the  handle,  the  sun  and  the 
stars  the  regulators  of  the  times  (to  which  the 
rules  refer),  and  the  moon  the  divider  (of  those 
times).  The  kwei  and  the  shen  they  shall  em- 
ploy as  servants  (for  the  execution  of  those 
rules),  the  five  elements  as  the  substance  thereof, 
the  rules  of  social  life  (li)  and  righteousness 
as  the  instruments  (by  which  they  are  executed), 
the  natural  character  of  man  as  the  field." 

Among  the  people,  divination  and  soothsaying, 
side  by  side  with  chronomancy,  rule  and  tyrannise 


Divinatory  Observation  of  the  Universe     283 


one's  life  in  all  its  parts.  The  literature  on  that 
art  is  very  large,  and  its  professors  may  be  counted 
by  thousands.  A  thorough  study  of  the  political 
and  social  system  of  observation  and  divination 
of  nature  in  China  would  exhibit  the  greater  part 
of  an  enormous  mass  of  religious  superstition,  the 
other  part  of  which  is  furnished  by  her  demonology 
and  exorcising  magic,  which,  as  I  have  demon- 
strated, is  likewise  thoroughly  Universistic.  Such 
study  would  open  to  us  an  inexhaustible  mine  of 
information,  suited  to  make  the  mouths  of  folk- 
lorists  and  ethnologists  water.  This  system  is  the 
only  one  now  existing  in  the  world  as  a  complete 
science,  based  on  foundations  that  were  laid  in 
the  darkest  night  of  human  history,  when  Baby- 
lonians and  Egyptians  were  erecting  their  systems 
of  wisdom  upon  the  Universistic  base.  Their 
systems,  lost  for  so  long  time,  modem  science  is 
now  reconstructing  piecemeal  as  a  relic  of  ancient 
culture  and  thought.  Is  it  improbable  that  a 
thorough  study  of  the  Chinese  system,  which  has 
never  died  out,  may  facilitate  the  explanation  of 
old  Babylonian  and  Egyptian  divinatory  art  and 
religious  conceptions  generally  ?  Is  it  preposterous 
to  suggest  that  such  comparative  study  may  lead 


284   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


to  the  discovery  of  the  existence,  at  the  dawn  of 
\  human  history,  of  one  common  root  of  religious 
I  development  in  Asia,  namely,  man's  consciousness 
of  the  power  of  the  Universe,  and  the  necessity  of 
avoiding  its  evil  influences?  I  earnestly  commend 
this  question  to  students  of  ancient  Western  Asia 
and  students  of  China. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

FUNG  SHUI 

NIO  branch  of  the  science  and  art  which  Uni- 
^  ^  versism  has  created  in  East  Asia  to  secure 
the  existence  and  the  happiness  of  the  human  race, 
can,  as  regards  influence  on  human  life  and  action, 
compare  with  fung  shut.  This  term  is  not  un- 
known among  foreigners,  since  treatises  have  been 
written  by  sinologists  on  the  subject  which  it 
represents.  Fung  shut  may  be  defined  as  the 
science  and  art  which  tends  to  realise  the  ideal  aim 
that  every  dwelling-place  of  man,  his  ancestors 
and  his  gods,  together  with  his  village  or  town, 
fields  and  surroimding  region,  must  be  situated  and 
constructed  in  such  a  manner  that  the  Universe 
can  exercise  as  completely  as  possible  its  favour- 
able influences  upon  it. 

That  man  in  Universistic  China  ought  to  dwell 
under  the  beneficent  influences  of  Heaven  and 
Earth,  is  manifest.     It  is  also  quite  intelligible 

285 


286    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


that  this  ought  to  be  the  case  with  his  ancestors; 
that  is  to  say,  the  house  altars  and  temples,  where 
their  soul-tablets  are  kept  and  worshipped,  and 
the  graves  in  which  their  souls  abide  must  be 
placed  under  favourable  natural  influences,  because 
those  souls  are  patron  divinities,  unable  to  dispense 
any  felicity  unless  they  are  themselves  in  posses- 
sion of  a  surplus  thereof,  which  nothing  but  the 
Universe  can  bestow.  The  same  principle,  for 
quite  the  same  reason,  controls  the  construction 
of  altars  and  temples  of  the  gods.  Should  altars, 
graves,  and  temples  be  made  in  unfavourable  spots, 
ancestors  and  gods  will  refuse  to  abide  there,  or 
will  be  irritated,  the  consequence  being  that  man, 
unprotected,  is  at  the  mercy  of  the  world  of  devils, 
with  their  evils,  death,  and  destruction. 

Fung  shut,  therefore,  is  a  most  important  matter. 
It  tyrannises  over  the  Chinese  nation  certainly 
not  less  intensively  and  extensively  than  chrono- 
mancy,  and  it  has  done  so  since  ancient  days.  It 
is,  of  course,  as  holy  as  Universism  itself;  it  pre- 
tends to  be  the  greatest  benefactor  of  mankind, 
but  in  reality  it  is  one  of  its  scourges.  Fung  shut 
signifies  "wind  and  water."  In  China,  where  the 
climate  is  dominated  by  monsoons  blowing  from 


Fung  Shui  287 


the  north,  cold  and  dry  in  winter  and  spring,  and 
from  the  south,  warm  and  wet  in  summer  and 
autumn,  the  blessings  of  the  Universe,  represented 
by  warmth  and  rains,  without  which  no  plants 
can  grow,  no  food  can  be  produced,  are  actually 
distributed  by  the  winds.  Fung  shui,  accordingly, 
denotes  the  beneficent  atmospheric  influences  of 
the  Universe,  ruling  human  fate  as  gods  or  shen, 
which,  as  will  be  remembered,  compose  the  Par- 
nassus of  the  State  Religion. 

The  science  is  also  called  khan  yu,  a  term  which 
occurs  even  in  the  literature  of  the  Han  dynasty, 
and  is  said  to  mean  ''Heaven  and  Earth."  A  very 
common  name  is  ti  li,  "influences  or  laws  of  the 
earth,"  which  might  be  translated  by  ^'geomancy 
It  is  a  classical  term,  borrowed  from  the  following 
passage  in  the  Yih  king,  the  oldest  one,  according 
to  the  Chinese,  that  refers  to  the  art: 


''By  looking  up,  in  order  to  contemplate  the 
constellations,  and  by  looking  down  to  examine 
the  influences  or  laws  of  the  Earth,  Man  may 
understand  the  explanations  of  mysterious  and 
intelligible  matters. ' ' ' 


■■I 


288   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


We  may,  indeed,  admit,  that  the  principles  of 
\fung  shut  are  not  much  yoimger  than  Universism 
lin  its  primary  forms.  During  the  Han  dynasty 
the  art  was  undoubtedly  in  a  flourishing  condition. 
The  historical  writings  of  Sze-ma  Ts  'ien,  written 
in  the  second  century  B.C.,  make  mention  of  a 
khan  yu  school,  consulted  by  the  emperor  Wu. 
Moreover,  there  is  in  the  historical  books  of  the 
Han  dynasty  a  list  of  writings  on  divination,  in 
which  we  find  a  "golden  khan  yu  thesaurus"  in 
fourteen  chapters,  besides  six  works  "on  the  rules 
concerning  forms,   which  treated  the  nine  sub- 

\  divisions  of  the  empire,  and  derived  therefrom  the 

I  shape  of  cities  and  dwellings." 

There  are,  moreover,  explicit  statements,  in  the 
Standard  History  of  the  Han  dynasty,  concerning 
families  which  attained  great  glory  because  some 
ancestors  of  theirs  happened  to  be  buried  under 
the  propitious  influences  of  the  Universe.    And 

f  from  that  time  to  this  day  we  find  the  art  of 

j  selecting  graves  in  the  first  place  at  the  service  of 
those  who  desired  official  posts.  Investment  with 
official  dignity  has,  indeed,  always  meant  in  China 
the  same  thing  as  wealth,  honour,  glory,  and  power 
in  this  world  and  the  next,  and  is  also  a  matter  of 


Fung  Shui  289 


the  highest  importance  to  the  deceased  ancestors, 
to  whom  the  possession  of  a  rich  and  thriving! 
off -spring  insures  bounteous  sacrifices  and  pious  * 
worship,  and,  as  a  consequence,  wealth,  glory  and 
influence  in  the  world  of  spirits.  Such  happy- 
ancestors  are,  of  course,  able  and  willing  to  re- 
double and  treble  their  protection.  This  doctrine^ 
even  dominates  the  ruling  dynasty.  The  dura^ 
tion  of  its  existence  and  sway  is  dependent  upon 
the  fung  shui  of  its  three  binial  grounds.  This 
Jung  shui  is  watched  over  faithfully  by  the  Kin 
thien  kien,  which  possesses  for  this  purpose  a 
staff  of  "students  or  doctors  of  the  Yin  and  the 
Yang, "  who,  besides,  have  to  utilise  their  wisdom 
for  the  erection  and  restoration  of  all  the  edifices, 
altars,  and  temples  of  the  State,  and  for  State  works 
generally.  The  fung  shui  of  the  imperial  mauso- 
leums is  considered  so  highly  important  that  the 
hills  which  gird  them,  and  which,  according  to  the 
science,  control  the  influences  of  the  fung  or  winds 
which  blow  there,  and  of  the  shui  or  rains  which 
fall  there  and  flow  down  as  brooks,  have  received 
a  place  in  the  pantheon  of  the  State  Religion 
immediately  after  the  holiest  mountains  of  the 
empire  (cf.  page  202). 
19 


290   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


Fung  shut  is  then  inseparably  connected  with 
I  the  construction  of  houses,  graves,  and  temples. 
Like  chronomancy,  it  is  practised  by  special  ex- 
perts or  professors  who  search  for  favourable 
spots  for  buildings  and  tombs,  and  indicate  the 
positions  and  directions  of  their  various  parts. 
This  class  of  men  has  always  had  sages  and  authors 
who  survive  by  their  fame  and  writings  to  the 
present  day.  Their  skill  has  often  resembled 
\  magic  or  witchcraft,  being  able  to  command  the 
\  blessings  of  Heaven  and  Earth  for  whole  genera- 
tions. Anecdotes  of  their  achievements  are,  to 
this  hour,  main  pillars  upholding  the  system  as  a 
product  of  this  not  only  highly  useful,  but  abso- 
lutely indispensable  science.  Under  their  direction 
tombs  have  been  laid  out  which  produced  foimders 
of  dynasties  among  the  owners.  Emperors  have 
felt  themselves  obliged  to  put  a  check  on  the 
geomantic  craze  created  by  such  wonders,  and  to 
confine  the  art  within  the  limits  of  orthodox  class- 
icism ;  but  their  efforts  proved  vain,  and  geomantic 
literature  and  the  number  of  celebrated  experts 
have  continued  to  grow  from  age  to  age. 

The  geomantic  art  is  principally  a  method  of 
\   computation,  in  which  wi  itten  characters  represent 


Fung  Shui  291 


celestial  and  terrestrial  powers  or  influences. 
Those  characters  are  in  the  first  place  the  ten 
"stems"  and  the  twelve  "branches,"  which  denote 
the  divisions  of  time  (see  page  235).  They  are 
used,  however,  also  as  names  for  the  divisions  of 
Heaven  and  Earth,  in  accordance  with  the  points 
of  the  compass.  To  this  end  they  are  arranged  in 
a  circle,  with  strict  observance  of  the  immutable 
sequence  which  the  ancients  have  fixed  for  both 
categories.  This  circle  affords  a  means  of  defining 
the  quaHties  and  virtues  of  the  twenty-four  divi- 
sions of  the  Earth,  because  the  latter  are  overruled 
by  the  influence  of  the  corresponding  divisions  of 
the  celestial  sphere.  This  sphere  is  divided,  ever 
since  the  classical  golden  era,  into  four  quarters, 
an  eastern,  southern,  western,  and  northern, 
called  Blue  Dragon,  Red  Bird,  White  Tiger,  and 
Black  Tortoise,  respectively.  Each  of  these  quar- 
ters contains  seven  principal  stars  or  constellations, 
called  siu,  the  influences  of  which,  modified  by 
adjacent  stars  and  asterisms,  define  the  quali- 
ties and  virtues  of  the  corresponding  divisions  of 
the  Earth,  in  accordance  with  the  great  law  that 
the  Tao  of  Heaven  overrules  the  Tao  of  Earth. 
Astrology  and  geomancy  are  thus  interwoven 


292    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


inseparably.  The  qualities  of  the  points  of  the 
compass  which  are  denoted  by  the  "stems"  are, 
moreover,  defined  by  the  twelve  animals  to  which 
they  correspond  (cf .  page  246) ;  and  a  large  place 
in  these  speculations  is,  of  course,  assigned  to  the 
five  elements,  which  constitute  the  Universe  and 
which  are  assimilated  with  its  quarters  and  with 
the  five  planets.'  The  use  of  the  "stems"  and 
"branches"  as  names  of  the  divisions  of  the  Uni- 
verse connects  geomancy  also  closely  with  horo- 
scopy,  since  it  enables  the  professors  to  test  the 
qualities  of  each  spot  which  they  select  for  houses 
or  graves  as  bearing  on  the  fate  of  every  per- 
son who  is  interested  in  the  matter,  since  such 
fate  (cf.  p.  246)  is  determined  by  the  four  "stems" 
and  four  "branches"  which  denote  the  moment  of 
his  birth.  Many  other  combinations  may  be  made 
according  to  the  ability  of  experts. 

To  facilitate  such  ingenious  work  they  use 
compasses,  upon  which  the  various  signs  and  sym- 
bols are  arranged  in  concentric  circles  around  the 
needle.  These  instruments  contain  all  the  wisdom 
of  the  art ;  they  are  real  magical  boxes,  from  which 
all  the  blessings  of  the  Universe  may  be  distributed 

»  See  the  table  on  page  169. 


Fung  Shui  293 


over  the  human  race,  if  able  hands  manipulate 
them  properly.  They  always  have  a  circle  con- 
taining the  kwa  of  the  Yih  king  (page  281),  which 
denote  the  chief  divisions  of  the  Universe  and  its 
principal  atmospheric  or  meteorological  influences. 
A  considerable  Hst  of  definitions  of  the  qualities 
of  the  various  terrestrial  divisions  is  procured 
thereby,  viz.,  the  same  which  that  holy  classic 
gives  of  the  kwa.  Finally,  it  must  be  noted  that 
the  wonderful  value  of  the  compass  is  greatly 
increased  by  a  circle  in  which  the  tiames  of  the 
twenty-fotir  solar  seasons  of  the  year  are  inscribed 
in  their  natural  order  of  succession.  It  thus  be- 
comes also  a  calendar,  which  shows  the  time  when 
building  operations  of  any  kind  may  be  begun.  Of 
course,  these  seasons  are  arranged  in  such  a  manner 
that  the  vernal  equinox  corresponds  with  due 
east,  the  summer  solstice  with  due  south,  etc. 
In  this  wise  geomancy  is  ingeniously  combined  ( 
with  chronomancy;  but  this  combination  is  a 
source  of  much  domestic  and  social  trouble,  as  it 
mostly  forbids  owners  of  houses  and  temples  to 
repair  them  at  the  time  they  need  reparation. 

The  influence  which  Heaven  and  its  phenomena,  ^ 
in  particular /wwg  shui  or  "wind  and  rain,"  exercise 


294   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


upon  Earth,  is  greatly  modified  by  the  configura- 
tion of  the  Earth.  This  simple  truth  has  given 
birth  to  the  geomantic  doctrine  that  hills  may 
prevent  noxious  winds  from  striking  buildings  or 
tombs;  and  since,  in  this  speculative  science, 
theory  is  king,  the  utility  of  hills  in  this  respect 
is  not  reduced  by  their  distance,  but  is  simply 
determined  by  their  visibility.  Bad  winds  may, 
accordingly,  be  controlled  by  rocks,  however 
small  they  be,  if  they  merely  conceal  from  view 
dangerous  gaps  in  distant  moimtains,  or  by  a  pile 
of  stones,  erected  at  a  proper  distance,  or  by 
shrubs  or  trees,  etc.  The  influence  of  water  is 
represented  by  rivers,  brooks,  lakes,  ponds,  and 
seas.  Even  though  dry,  they  are  perfect  bearers 
of  so-called  shui-shen  or  shut  ling,  that  is  "aquatic 
divinity  or  animation."  Windings  and  bends  of 
rivers  and  brooks  are  objects  of  studious  care; 
tanks  and  ponds  are  dug  to  attract  the  aquatic 
animation  to  the  neighbouring  places  or  to  the 
temples  and  mausoleums  built  there;  even  the 
location,  form,  size,  and  direction  of  drains  are 
calculated  with  the  greatest  care.  Configurations 
of  landscapes  are  of  importance  also  because  they 
contain  the  influences  of  the  divisions  of  the  sphere 


Fung  Shui  295 


to  which  they  correspond,  and  because  they  send 
them  forth  beneficently  among  men.  Professors 
divide  these  influences  mainly  into  four  categories, 
namely,  those  of  the  Blue  Dragon,  the  Red  Bird, 
the  White  Tiger,  and  the  Black  Tortoise.  A  per- 
fect situation  of  a  house,  temple,  or  grave  requires 
a  configuration  that  represents  those  animals  re- 
spectively on  the  eastern,  southern,  western,  and 
northern  sides,  but  they  need  nor  bear  the  slightest 
resemblance  to  any  animals;  even  a  house,  tomb, 
rock,  stone,  or  column,  tree  or  shrub  may  form  a 
good  animal.  The  tiger  represents  wind,  and  the 
dragon  water,  and  they  are  therefore  of  peculiar 
importance.  Families  who  live  tinder  the  tutelage 
of  a  good  dragon  and  tiger  may  be  sure  to  produce 
civil  and  military  officers,  because  the  dragon 
symbolises  the  emperor,  and  the  tiger  intrepidity 
and  courage.  Even  a  dragon  alone  may  give  a 
good  Jung  shui;  but  the  other  animals  without  the 
dragon  are  valueless. 

Each  subdivision  of  a  favourable  mountain  or  hill 
may,  of  course,  have  its  special  merits  or  demerits, 
according  to  the  stars  by  which  it  is  ruled ;  that  is  to 
say,  it  maiy  hdive  shen  or  ling,  "animation,  spiritu- 
ality, or  vitality,"  and  may  be  able  to  dispense 


296   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


blessings  of  various  descriptions  and  in  different 
quantities.  The  animation  may,  however,  be 
inactive,  latent,  or  dead,  and,  accordingly,  useless 
to  man.  It  may  also  be  accumulated  or  concen- 
trated in  one  place  and  dissolved  elsewhere ;  it  may 
I  be  unalloyed  or  mixed,  floating  on  the  surface  or 
.hidden  deep,  powerful  or  weak,  etc.  It  is  the 
learning  of  the  professors  that  detects  all  these 
particulars  and  utilises  them.  Hills  and  mount- 
ains are  also  very  powerful  in  their  influence  upon 
the  fate  of  man,  if  their  outlines  allow  the  imagi- 
nation to  distinguish  in  them  favourable  or  un- 
favourable omens.  For  instance,  if  a  hill  bears  on 
its  top  a  boulder  of  great  size,  weighing  heavily 
upon  it,  the  fortunes  of  the  people  around  may  be 
crushed  down,  and  poverty  and  misfortune  for 
ever  prevail  among  them.  If,  however,  there 
is  recognisable  in  its  contour  a  snake,  near  the  head 
of  which  a  rock  or  stone  suggests  the  idea  of  a 
pearl  vomited  by  the  snake,  those  who  live  under 
this  fung  shut  will  become  rich.  If  one  dwells 
under  the  protection  of  some  hill  on  the  top  of 
which  there  are  three  small  peaks  side  by  side, 
his  sons  and  grandsons  will  gain  literary  laurels 
by  study  and  scholarship,  and  be  promoted  to  high 


Fung  Shui  297 


offices.  Therefore  men  of  letters  are  accustomed  to 
have  on  their  writing-desk  an  instrument  of  stone 
or  wood,  cut  in  the  shape  of  such  peaks,  between 
which  they  rest  the  point  of  their  writing-brush, 
to  prevent  the  ink  from  blotting  the  table.  As 
such  association  of  ideas  with  the  contours  of 
mountains  may  be  spun  out  endlessly,  the  field , 
for  imaginative  ingenuity  is  widened  indefinitely, 
and  experts  explore  it  in  every  direction.  Some 
books  of  geomancy  give  long  lists  of  objects  which 
have  disastrous  or  beneficial  effects  when  detected 
in  the  outlines  of  hills  and  mountains. 

No  configuration  is  perfect  imless  the  five  ele- 
ments or  planets  work  in  it  harmoniously. 

Every  intelligent  Chinese  imderstands  that 
wherever  in  hills,  rocks,  or  boulders  the  element 
Fire  or  heat  predominates,  conflagrations  or 
droughts  must  be  common,  unless  it  be  counter- 
balanced by  some  other  configtuation  which 
represents  Water.  If  the  element  Earth  is  over- 
ruled by  Water,  or  suffering  from  want  of  Water, 
inundations  or  droughts  will  be  impending  dangers. 
Should  one  configuration  represent  Fire,  and  an- 
other, quite  near  it.  Wood,  then  houses,  buildings, 
villages,  and  towns  are  always  in  danger  of  confla- 


298    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


gration.  Villages  which  are  often  harassed  by 
armed  robbers  will  readily  be  declared  by  good 
experts  to  be  situated  under  the  influence  of  some 
hill  which  represents  the  element  Metal,  or  to  have 
its  graves  on  or  near  such  a  hill.  On  the  other 
hand,  there  are  numerous  beneficial  combinations 
of  elements.  Fire  and  Water,  if  united  in  harmony 
and  in  adequate  proportions,  further  fecundation, 
and  may  render  the  fields  productive,  causing  also 
the  inmates  of  a  house,  or  the  offspring  of  a  buried 
corpse,  to  produce  a  numerous  progeny. 

Bad  elements  may  also  produce  good  elements, 
and  may  suppress  the  influences  of  others  which 
are  bad.  This  doctrine,  which  allows  fancy  and 
speculation  even  a  wider  play  in  fung  shut  matters, 
is  based  upon  the  wisdom  of  antiquity.  This  has 
taught  that  Wood  or  vegetation  overpowers  Earth, 
and  produces  Fire;  Earth  conquers  or  impairs 
Water,  and  produces  Metal ;  Water  destroys  or  van- 
quishes Fire,  and  produces  Wood  or  vegetation; 
Fire  conquers  Metal,  and  creates  Earth,  that  is 
ashes;  and  Metal  destroys  Wood,  and  produces 
Water  when  it  melts.  Upon  these  vagaries  pro- 
fessors of  fung  shut  have  built  an  art  of  regu- 
lating the   operation   of   the   five   elements    by 


Fung  Shui  299 


improving  the  natural  configuration  of  the  ground 
and  the  contours  of  hills,  and  they  have  carried 
this  art  to  a  high  state  of  perfection.  Clever 
professors  find  no  difficulty  in  quenching,  for 
instance,  the  evils  emanating  from  a  rock  whose 
points  represent  flames,  by  having  a  water  tank 
made  of  proper  dimensions,  calculated  to  the 
inch.  They  can  also  cut  off  such  points,  and 
thus  mitigate  their  effects  to  any  extent  de- 
sired; or  they  may  modify  their  shapes  into 
others  which  represent  Wood,  Metal,  or  any 
elements  they  please;  or  they  may  turn  a  brook 
in  a  favourable  direction,  in  order  to  quench  the 
Fire  represented  by  a  hill  or  rock.  Or,  if  a  flat 
elevation  disturbs  the  harmony  of  the  configura- 
tion, they  have  merely  to  place  a  convex  or  pointed 
pile  of  stones  on  the  top,  as  high  and  broad  as  they 
deem  fit.  With  the  object  of  thus  correcting  the 
fung  shui  of  cities,  towns,  and  valleys,  there  have 
been  erected  towers  or  pagodas  in  large  numbers 
throughout  the  empire,  at  the  cost  of  much  money 
and  labour.  Thus  may  man's  foresight  and 
energy  rule  the  influences  of  the  Universe;  and  so 
he  can  turn  his  own  destiny  and  fortunes,  and 
those  of  his  offspring,  into  any  channel  he  pleases. 


300   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


This  philosophical  nonsense  about  the  elements 
intimately  connects  the  geomantic  art  by  another 
tie  with  the  celestial  sphere.  For  many  centuries 
it  has  been  customary  to  consider  the  five  planets 
as  celestial  counterparts  of  the  five  elements,  and 
to  call  Venus  the  star  of  Metal,  and  Jupiter, 
Mercury,  Mars,  and  Saturn  the  stars  of  Wood, 
Water,  Fire,  and  Earth,  respectively.  Conversely, 
every  part  of  the  terrestrial  surface,  when  identified 
with  one  or  more  elements  on  account  of  its  shape, 
is  under  the  rule  and  influence  of  the  corresponding 
planets,  and  also  under  that  of  the  stars  and  con- 
stellations through  which  they  move. 

Carefully  and  cautiously,  geomancers,  when 
seeking  for  a  suitable  place  for  a  house,  temple,  or 
grave,  try  to  discover  the  elements  which  are 
hidden  in  the  configurations.  Stony  ground, 
barren  rocks,  and  boulders  not  cemented  together 
by  loam  or  clay  in  considerable  quantities,  embody 
the  element  Fire,  as  the  capricious  outlines  re- 
semble notched  flames,  and  the  dryness  of  the 
stones  and  rocks  is  a  proof  of  plutonic  propensities. 
A  coffin  imbedded  in  such  ground  would  quickly 
moulder  and  not  long  afford  a  shelter  to  the  corpse 
and  the  soul;  it  would  be  afung  shut  as  bad  as  that 


Fung  Shui  301 


of  a  watery  soil.  Likewise,  any  mountain,  bluff, 
or  knoll  rising  up  like  a  peak  represents  the  element/ 
Fire.  If  the  top  is  gently  rounded.  Metal  predom-/ 
inates  in  it.  If  it  rises  up  steep,  bold,  and  straight, 
it  is  declared  to  represent  Wood,  probably  because 
it  reminds  one  of  a  tree.  Should  the  top  form  a 
terrace  of  clay  or  earth,  the  element  Earth  predom- 
inates; and  if  it  has  an  irregular  surface,  reminding 
experts  of  a  lake  or  river,  it  passes  for  an  embodi- 
ment of  the  watery  element.  Of  course,  any 
eminence  may  combine  in  itself  two  or  more  of 
these  elementary  forms,  and  thus  represent  just 
so  many  elements.  It  may  be  that  one  professor 
sees  Fire  where  another  discerns  Water  or  Metal; 
but  this  is  no  drawback,  because  they  can  thus 
perpetually  confute  each  other's  statements  in 
the  interest  of  customers  and  their  own  piuse. 

And  yet  such  playing  with  contours  and  lines 
is  considered  to  be  high  wisdom,  taught  for  many 
ages  by  a  predominant  school  of  fung  shui,  com- 
monly called  the  Kiangsi  school,  because  its  great 
man  was  the  imperial  geomancer,  Yang  Ytm-simg, 
who  lived  in  that  province  in  the  ninth  century. 
This  school  also  laid  a  peculiar  stress  upon  the 
influences  of  directions  and  meanderings  of  water- 


302   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


courses,  or,  in  other  words,  upon  those  of  Dragons, 
which  imaginary  animals  play  parts  in  this  system 
under  various  names  and  aspects.  The  predom- 
inance of  the  Kiangsi  school  may  be  ascribed  in 
the  main  to  the  circumstance  that  it  has  enabled 
any  charlatan  to  point  out  at  his  pleasure  dragons, 
tigers,  elements,  water-spirits,  etc.,  and  take  rank 
as  a  coryphaeus  with  a  large  practice.  It  also  opens 
the  way  to  uneducated  people  to  perfect  themselves 
in  fung  shut  wisdom  and  to  chatter  about  configu- 
rations and  outlines  with  perfect  self-reliance ;  and 
when  there  is  an  altercation  about  imaginary 
injuries  done  to  the  fung  shut  of  a  grave  or  house, 
old  matrons  are  generally  loudest  in  expressing 
opinions. 

The  fact  that  fung  shut  wisdom  is  within  so  easy 
reach  does  not  cast  any  shadow  upon  the  reputa- 
tion of  its  professors  as  marvels  of  learning, 
fathoming  the  mysteries  of  Heaven  and  Earth. 
For,  after  all,  they  possess  more  of  that  wisdom 
than  the  rest  of  mankind,  so  that  there  always  is  a 
chance  that  the  spots  which  they  assign  for  graves 
or  dwellings  may  either  secure  the  prosperity  of 
their  employers,  even  for  generations,  or  plunge 
them  into  woe  or  poverty.     Professors  may  main- 


Fung  Shui  303 


tain  their  reputation  in  many  ways.  By  means 
of  high-sounding  names  of  ancient  sages  and 
scholars,  the  bearers  of  whose  wisdom  they  pre- 
tend to  be,  they  will  overawe  their  customers. 
By  various  tales  and  anecdotes,  which  occur  abun- 
dantly even  in  the  Standard  Histories,  they  will  in- 
timidate them,  and  prove  how  useful  and  prudent 
it  is  to  cultivate  their  good-will.  The  mysterious 
compass;  the  dignified  and  imposing  airs  with 
which  they  manipulate  it  when  they  roam  over 
the  hills  with  the  customers,  to  point  out,  with 
display  of  great  sharpness  of  sight  and  wit,  dragons, 
tigers,  and  conjunctions  of  all  sorts  and  descriptions; 
their  learned  jargon,  etc. — by  all  these  means  they 
command  general  respect,  and  open  purses.  The 
longer  the  professor  delays  his  decisions,  the 
larger  his  pay.  And  if  his  decisions  do  not  secure 
prosperity,  or  if,  on  the  contrary,  they  bring  decay 
of  forttmes,  well,  then,  not  he  but  Almighty  Heaven 
is  to  be  blamed.  In  fact,  according  to  holy,  class- 
ical doctrine,  Heaven  grants  no  felicity  except 
to  the  good  (of.  page  21);  and  it  is  in  the  case 
in  question  evident  that  the  employers  or  their 
ancestry  were  not  virtuous  enough  to  deserve  its 
blessing.     Fung  shui  is  no  creator  of  happiness. 


304   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


but  merely  a  medium  or  agent  for  the  distribution 
of  that  which  Heaven,  and  Heaven  alone,  bestows. 
It  is  now  also  clear  why  so  very  iewfung  shut  pro- 
fessors become  rich  and  honourable  by  means  of 
the  excellent  graves  which,  of  course,  they  are  sure 
to  select  for  their  own  parents.  This  fact  creates 
suspicion  and  scepticism  with  regard  to  their  art. 
The  scepticism  is  even  nurtured  by  authors,  many 
of  whom  disparage  fung  shui  most  because  it  pre- 
vents so  many  people  from  burying  their  parents 
in  due  time. 

Indeed,  the  first  cause  of  such  impious,  sinful 
delay  is  the  professor,  who,  having  to  find  a  proper 
site  for  the  grave,  delays  his  decision,  in  order  to 
extort  pay,  presents,  and  bounties.  Then,  when 
he  has  finished  this  task,  many  days  are  lost  in 
bargaining,  through  a  broker  or  agent,  with  the 
owner  of  the  ground,  who,  of  course,  demands  an 
exorbitant  price,  allowing  the  family  first  to  test 
the  geomantic  qualities  of  the  soil,  binding  himself 
also,  in  consideration  of  earnest  money,  not  to  sell 
the  spot  to  anybody  else,  until  they  decline  the 
purchase.  Without  delay,  a  small  quantity  of 
pig's  bones  are  bought  at  the  butcher's  and  interred 
on  the  spot  in  a  small  box  of  wood.     After  about  a 


Fung  Shui  305 


year,  the  family  exhume  and  examine  them.  If 
they  are  now  hard,  dry,  and  white,  the  soil  is  ap- 
proved, showing  that  it  possesses  sufficient  pre- 
servative power  to  keep  the  osseous  remains  of 
the  dead  in  a  good  condition  and,  consequently, 
to  attach  his  manes  for  ever  to  the  spot.  It  is 
then  by  no  means  rare  that  the  family  resolves  to 
consult  another  professor,  in  order  to  verify  the 
decisions  of  the  first.  As  a  rule,  this  new  marvel 
with  a  flow  of  critical  remarks  condemns  every- 
thing which  his  colleague  did,  for  the  professors 
by  no  means  constitute  a  mutual  admiration 
society.  Now  everything  has  to  be  done  again 
from  the  beginning.  The  earnest  money  is  lost; 
the  payments  made  to  the  professor  cannot  be 
recovered ;  the  dinner  parties,  by  which  the  family 
has  bought  the  good-will  of  the  dangerous  man,  are 
a  dead  loss;  and  the  new  oracle  in  his  turn  puts 
the  family  to  expense.  He  borrows  money  from 
them  whenever  an  opporttmity  presents  itself, 
claims  payment  for  every  trifle  of  work,  and  is 
likely  to  intrigue  with  the  proprietor  of  each  plot 
of  ground  which  he  declares  to  answer  the  purposes 
of  the  family.  In  short,  there  is  probably  not 
much  exaggeration  in  the  assertion  of  the  Chinese 


3o6   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


that  many  well-to-do  families,  unable  to  restrain 
their  passion  iovfung  shut,  are  brought  to  the  brink 
of  poverty  by  geomancers. 

Pending  the  discovery  of  the  auspicious  grave 
desired,  the  deceased  parent  remains  unburied, 
either  at  home,  or  somewhere  else.  Although 
public  opinion  decries  long  postponement  of  burial 
as  the  height  of  unfilialness,  and  government 
threatens  it  with  severe  punishment,  yet  regularly 
every  year  thousands  of  dead  are  deprived  of  a 
timely  burial  because  of  the  exigencies  of  fung  shut. 

It  is,  of  course,  an  inconvenient  matter  to  keep 
a  corpse  at  home  for  a  long  time,  even  though  the 
coffin  is  hermetically  closed  and  lacquered.  More- 
over, many  Chinese  believe  that  it  may  bring  evil 
on  the  house.  It  is,  therefore,  common  to  deposit 
it  somewhere  in  a  cottage,  built  or  hired  to  this 
end  in  the  coimtry,  or  in  a  Buddhist  temple;  the 
consequence  being  that  in  many  parts  of  China 
the  soil  is,  as  it  were,  studded  with  corpses  awaiting 
interment.  In  Canton,  and  certainly  in  many 
other  places,  there  even  exist  large  buildings, 
capable  of  holding  several  himdred  coffins,  each  in 
a  separate  apartment,  for  which  the  family  has 
to  pay  rent. 


Fung  Shui  307 


In  seeking  a  grave,  much  time  is  lost  especially 
when  the  dead  man  leaves  many  children.  The 
eight  kwa  which,  as  we  have  seen,  play  an  import- 
ant part  in  geomantic  determinations,  are  identi- 
fied by  the  Yih  king  with  sons  and  daughters. 
Consequently,  the  fortimes  of  all  the  members  of 
a  family  cannot  be  insured  by  the  grave  of  their 
father  or  mother  unless  the  forms  of  the  surround- 
ings are  perfect  on  all  sides ;  and  as  such  a  perfect 
grave  is  hardly  ever  obtainable,  it  follows  that 
some  of  the  children  are  excluded  from  the  benefits 
yielded  by  the  grave.  As  a  consequence,  discord 
arises,  especially  when  the  children  thus  set  aside 
are  the  offspring  of  a  jealous  second  wife  or  of 
concubines,  and  these  women  instigate  the  dear 
fruits  of  their  wombs  not  to  stoop  to  such  a  wrong, 
but  to  oppose  it  vigorously  to  the  end. 

This  truth,  that  a  grave  can  seldom  dispense 
blessings  to  all  the  sons  equally,  is  one  of  the  great- 
est discoveries  of  the  Jung  shui  science.  It 
explains  why  one  brother  may  become  wealthy 
and  great,  while  the  other  remains  poor  and 
humble.  The  theory  is  undisputed,  as  many 
tales,  even  many  pages  of  the  Standard  Histories 
confirm  it.     It  shows  that,  under  the  sway  of  Uni- 


3o8    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


versism,  the  possession  of  sons  and  money  is  even 
in  China  not  an  unalloyed  blessing,  as  it  may 
become  fatal  after  death.  The  evil  may  be 
avoided  by  any  one  who  has  his  own  grave  made 
while  he  lives.  But  they  who  have  recourse  to 
this  expedient  are  rare.  It  is  obvious  that  the 
geomancers  employed  in  such  a  case  have  the  best 
possible  opportimity  to  procrastinate  for  months 
and  even  years;  and  as  the  family  has  plenty  of 
time  to  consult  any  number  of  them,  there  is  no 
limit  to  the  expenditure.  It  is  impossible  to  make 
sure  that,  as  soon  as  the  old  man  is  dead,  no  wiser 
professor  will  turn  up,  to  convince  the  sons  that 
the  Jung  shui  of  the  grave  is  not  worth  a  farthing. 
They  will  then  delay  the  burial,  or  provisionally 
bury  the  coffin  somewhere  at  haphazard,  to  rebury 
it  as  soon  as  the  good  grave  is  found,  unless  in 
the  meantime  the  family  prospers  sufficiently  to 
feel  convinced  that  the  fung  shui  of  the  provi- 
sional grave  is  excellent,  and  that  any  removal  of 
the  coffin  therefrom  would  be  senseless. 

The  fung  shui  of  a  grave,  house,  or  temple  is 
a  fragile  combination  of  imaginary  influences  of 
nature,  fitting  into  one  another  and  acting  upon 
one  another  like  the  different  parts  of  a  machine, 


Fung  Shui  309 


the  slightest  defect  in  which  may  bring  the  whole 
to  a  standstill.  As  it  is  so  delicate,  no  man,  how- 
ever thrifty  or  avaricious,  can  dispense  with  the 
guidance  of  experts ;  and  as  it  is  so  easily  disturbed, 
experts  always  have  at  hand  a  ready  excuse  when 
their  prophecies  are  not  realised.  The  Jung  shui, 
they  say  in  such  cases,  was  perfect  at  the  outset, 
but  it  has  been  wounded  or  killed  by  some  accident, 
or  by  some  malicious  act  of  a  bad  neighbour. 

Fung  shui  may  be  wounded  by  a  mere  trifle. 
A  stone  carelessly  thrown  away,  or  set  up  by  a 
person  to  improve  the  Jung  shui  of  a  grave  of  his ; 
the  erection  of  a  boundary  mark;  the  building  of  a 
hut  or  shed  at  some  distance  from  the  grave  or  on 
a  visible  mountain;  in  short,  anything  may  prove 
fatal.  But  nothing  is  so  perilous  for  a  grave  as 
the  construction  of  another  grave  in  the  adjacent 
groimds.  In  general  it  is  the  professor  who  opens 
the  eyes  of  the  family  to  the  sorrowful  fact  that 
the  new  grave  intercepts  the  influences  of  a  water- 
course, or  that  it  cuts  off  the  spiritual  operation 
of  the  good  influences  of  the  tail  or  leg  of  the 
Dragon  or  Tiger;  and  he  convinces  the  family 
that  it  is  only  by  prompt  and  peremptory  measures 
that  the  wound  can  be  healed — else  the  beneficent 


310    Development  of  Religion  in  China 


Animal  will  bleed  to  death,  and  the  Jung  shut  will 
be  for  ever  destroyed 

In  such  a  case,  negotiations  are  opened  with  the 
owners  of  the  murderous  grave,  but,  of  course, 
without  any  good  result,  as  they  zealously  stick 
to  their  right  of  retaining  the  spot  which  they 
obtained  at  the  cost  of  much  science  and  money. 
Geomantic  measures,  good  for  both  parties,  are 
hardly  possible,  for  what  is  good  for  the  one  grave 
is  generally  pernicious  to  the  other,  and  the  learned 
combinations  of  factors,  to  which  both  must  an- 
swer, almost  inevitably  collide.  Hard  coin  may 
perhaps  lead  to  a  better  result;  but  the  de- 
mands of  the  other  party  are  excessively  high, 
especially  if  any  of  them  are  literary  graduates  or 
rich  and  influential  men,  who  feel  sure  of  gaining 
their  cause  if  the  offended  party  should  invoke  the 
intervention  of  the  mandarins.  Nothing  then  re- 
mains for  the  family  but  to  beat  a  retreat.  But 
should  the  two  parties  possess  an  equal  amount 
of  influence,  or  no  influence  at  all,  a  complaint  is 
soon  lodged.  Then,  as  is  the  case  in  every  law- 
suit, an  opportunity  is  afforded  to  Yamen  officials, 
policemen,  and  constables  to  make  money  in  an 
easy  way.     By  leaving  the  accusation  untouched, 


Fung  Shui  311 


they  compel  the  plaintiff,  who  is  anxious  to  save 
his  Jung  shui  from  impending  death,  to  pay  them 
bounties.  Meanwhile,  the  defendant,  in  constant 
fear  of  the  prison  which  may  open  before  him  any 
day,  has  to  pay  them  more  than  once,  nay  over 
and  over  again,  and  yet  he  may  even  thereby  not 
evade  the  dungeon,  the  tribunal,  and  torture. 
And  so  the  two  parties  may  have  sunk  almost  all 
their  money  before  the  mandarin  gives  his  verdict, 
occasionally  after  a  personal  visit  to  the  spot  at  the 
cost  of  the  plaintiff. 

It  is  also  Jung  shui  that  opens  the  way  to  all 
sorts  of  machinations  of  brokers  in  grave  grounds. 
Quarrels,  even  fights  between  villages  may  follow, 
and  animosity  may  rise  to  so  high  a  pitch  that 
graves  are  attacked  with  hoes,  and  even  opened 
and  desecrated.  Revenge  creates  feuds,  entailing 
the  desecration  of  several  more  graves,  open  fights, 
incendiarism,  and  destruction  of  crops.  Men, 
women,  and  children  are  waylaid,  kidnapped,  and 
maltreated,  or  held  as  hostages,  either  to  be  re- 
deemed for  money  or  exchanged;  in  short,  civil 
war  is  rife,  with  all  its  disastrous  consequences. 

When  matters  have  reached  this  pitch,  the  man- 
darins  sometimes  resort   to   rigorous   measures. 


312   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


Soldiers  are  stationed  in  both  villages,  who  soon 
restore  order  by  extorting  money  and  food  from 
the  inhabitants  so  mercilessly  that  in  the  end  the 
last  bushel  of  rice  and  the  last  handful  of  coppers 
are  gone.  Meanwhile  the  magistrate  paternally 
corrects  those  who  are  pointed  out  as  actual  de- 
secrators  of  the  graves,  by  making  a  liberal  use  of 
sticks  long  and  short,  and  punishing  some  with 
the  utmost  rigour  of  the  law. 

Not  seldom  there  arise  hostilities  between  clans 
and  villages  from  a  derangement  of  the  Jung  shut 
of  an  extensive  region.  A  slight  modification 
made  in  the  course  of  a  brook  for  irrigation  or 
other  purposes;  the  alteration  of  the  outline  of  a 
hill  or  rock  by  the  erection  of  a  house  or  shed;  in 
short,  any  trifle  may  seriously  disturb  the  Jung 
shut  of  villages  or  valleys,  which  is  usually  evinced 
by  a  decadence  of  prosperity,  bad  crops,  and  other 
calamities.  Attacks  on  the  fung  shut  of  a  land- 
scape are  not  seldom  made  for  malignant  purposes. 
There  are  instances  of  the  whole  male  population 
of  a  village  having  toiled  for  several  days  to  de- 
stroy the  good  fortune  of  another  settlement  by 
digging  away  a  knoll,  levelling  down  an  eminence, 
or  amputating  a  limb  from  a  Dragon  or  Tiger. 


Fung  Shui  313 


Quarrels  and  litigations  arising  from  Jung  shui 
are  of  daily  occurrence  in  cities.  The  repairing 
of  a  house,  the  building  of  a  wall,  especially  if  it 
overtops  the  surroundings,  the  planting  of  a  pole 
or  cutting  down  of  a  tree;  in  general  any  change 
in  the  ordinary  position  of  objects  may  disturb 
the  Jung  shui  of  houses  and  temples,  and  cause 
the  city  to  be  visited  by  disasters,  misery,  and 
death.  Should  any  one  suddenly  fall  ill  or  die, 
his  family  are  immediately  at  hand  to  impute  the 
blame  to  somebody  who  has  ventured  to  make  a 
change  in  the  established  order  of  things,  or  has 
made  an  improvement  in  his  own  property,  which 
he  had  a  perfect  right  to  do.  Instances  are  by 
no  means  rare  of  the  mob  having  stormed  such  a 
person's  house,  demolished  his  furniture,  assailed 
his  person,  or  placed  the  corpse  in  his  bed  to  extort 
money,  or  to  introduce  the  influences  of  death  into 
his  house. 

Fortimately,  contention  is  often  prevented  by 
the  fact  that  fung  shui,  if  disturbed  or  injured, 
can  be  restored  in  various  ways.  Professors,  if 
consulted  in  time,  are  generally  able  to  suggest 
some  remedy.  When  a  dwelling-house  is  endan- 
gered, they  usually  order  the  erection  of  certain 


314   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


fences,  capable  of  keeping  off  evil  that  destroys 
the  favourable  influences  of  the  spot;  or  they 
affix  on  the  endangered  place  charms,  composed 
of  mysterious  writing  and  other  symbols.  Also 
when  the  Jung  shut  of  a  village,  town,  or  city  has 
been  disturbed,  there  are  many  means  to  remedy 
the  evil.  Calamitous  contours  of  houses,  rocks, 
mountains,  or  plains  may  be  rectified  by  skilful 
manipulations,  and  changed  into  instruments  of 
blessing.  If  an  elevation  is  not  high  enough,  it 
can  be  made  higher;  a  calamitous  streamlet  may 
be  given  a  favourable  turn ;  groves  may  be  planted 
on  the  endangered  side,  to  work  as  fenders; 
pagodas  or  piles  of  stones  may  be  erected.  A 
dangerous  configuration  which  represents  some 
animal  may  be  deprived  of  its  power  by  destroying 
the  parts  which  represent  its  eyes  or  a  leg.  These 
and  many  other  remedial  procedures  are  employed. 
Temples  for  the  worship  of  tutelary  divinities, 
and  especially  large  Buddhist  monasteries,  gener- 
ally owe  their  existence  to  a  desire  to  improve  the 
fung  shut  of  a  whole  region.  The  monastery  is 
to  this  end  built  in  a  spot  in  the  mountains  where 
the  fung  shut  or  ''winds  and  water"  concentrate 
their  propitious  influences,  and  where  streamlets 


Fung  Shui  315 


are  formed  which  irrigate  the  fields  in  the  valleys. 
Regulators  of  the  Jung  shui  are  three  Buddhas, 
whose  large  images  have  been  erected  in  the  great 
church  of  the  monastery,  on  an  altar  carefully 
selected  by  geomancers  as  a  focus  in  which  the 
propitious  influences  of  the  configurations  of  the 
hills  concur,  and  from  which,  accordingly,  blessings 
radiate  over  the  protected  region.  Those  three 
Buddhas  are,  as  a  rule,  the  so-called  Triratna, 
who  in  the  Mahay  ana  system  represents  the 
Universal  Light;  Dharma,  which  is  in  this 
system  the  Universal  Law  or  Order;  and  Sangha, 
the  host  of  saints.  It  is  then  in  fung  shui  that 
Chinese  Universism  or  Taoism  mingles  with 
Buddhist  Universism. 

Much  more  might  be  written  about  this  pre- 
tended science,  whose  father  is  religious  awe  of 
the  majesty  and  works  of  the  divine  Universe  and 
its  gods,  and  its  mother  human  selfishness,  desirous  ^ 
of  utilising  artificially  the  Universe  for  worldly  v 
profit.  It  is  for  this  reason  a  hybrid  monster, 
which  destroys  the  mental  quiet  of  thousands  and 
thousands  of  conscientious  men,  tormenting  them 
with  anxious  thoughts  about  their  future  and 
their  offspring,  and  constraining  them  to  impov- 


31 6   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


erish  themselves  for  the  profit  of  geomancers, 
grave-brokers,  and  land-owners.  It  disturbs  do- 
mestic peace,  disseminating  discord  even  among 
brothers,  and  animosity  between  families,  clans, 
and  villages.  It  causes  the  ruin  of  many  families, 
wasting  their  means  on  the  pretext  of  creating 
fortunes.  It  is  an  obstacle  to  all  sorts  of  enter- 
prise which  might  be  of  the  greatest  advantage  to 
the  people.  The  cutting  of  a  new  road  or  canal, 
the  construction  of  a  new  bridge,  a  railroad,  tram- 
way, or  telegraph  line  almost  always  entails  the 
amputation  of  a  limb  or  a  sinew  of  some  Dragon, 
Tiger,  Bird,  or  Tortoise,  or  intercepts  propitious 
aeolian  or  aquatic  influences,  or  interferes  in  some 
way  or  other  with  professorial  calculations,  causing 
whole  wards,  clans,  villages,  and  cities  to  rise  up 
as  one  man  against  the  reckless  individual  whose 
enterprising  spirit  presumes  to  bring  misfortune 
upon  them  all.  As  a  consequence,  Jung  shut 
causes  an  immense  waste  of  human  labour;  for, 
by  reason  of  the  absence  of  good  roads  and  practic- 
able canals,  ships,  carts,  and  beasts  of  burden 
can  be  employed  only  in  limited  numbers,  and 
this  necessitates  a  great  use  of  human  shoulders 
for   the   transport   of   persons   and   merchandise 


Fung  Shui  317 


along  paths  scarcely  practicable.  Nor  is  it  rare 
to  see  htindreds  of  ships  taking  a  wide  and  difficult 
circuit,  because  fung  shui  has  forbidden  a  bridge 
to  be  built  high  enough  to  allow  of  their  passing 
underneath. 

We  are  now  in  a  position  to  define  Chinese 
science  and  its  various  branches— /wng  shuiy 
chronometry  and  chronomancy,  the  observation 
and  investigation  of  strange  phenomena  in  Heaven 
and  Earth,  the  science  of  government,  classical 
literary  science,  medicine.  We  have  seen  that 
this  science  is  not  profane  but  religious,  an  integral 
constituent  of  the  all-dominating  system  of  Uni- 
versism.  It  is  the  science  of  the  Tao  of  Man,  that 
which  teaches  Man  how  to  secure  to  his  race  the 
blessings  of  the  living  Universe,  without  which 
he  cannot  exist.  It  may  represent  much  of  the 
wisdom  of  ancient  Babylonia,  if  not  that  of  the 
whole  of  ancient  Asia,  effaced  everywhere  except 
in  China,  where  it  has  expanded  to  its  largest 
dimension,  embracing  the  whole  state  and  people. 
It  represents  the  highest  level  to  which  mental 
culture  has  been  able  to  rise  in  China,  within  the 
bonds  of  a  classical  orthodoxy,  precluding  all 
science  of  another  order.     The  only  power  that 


3i8   Development  of  Religion  in  China 


can  explode  it  is  sound  science,  based  on  an  ex- 
perimental and  mathematical  investigation  of  the 
laws  of  Nature.  But  such  science  is  only  just 
bom  in  China.  Should  there  come  a  time  when 
it  is  seriously  cultivated  there,  then,  no  doubt,  a 
complete  revolution  in  its  religion,  philosophy, 
ethics,  literattire,  political  institutions,  and  customs 
will  take  place:  a  process  by  which  China  must 
be  either  thoroughly  disorganised  and  ruined,  or 
reborn  and  regenerated.  Then  China  will  cease 
to  be  China  and  the  Chinese  will  no  longer  be 
Chinese. 

An  enormous  process!  It  has  already  begim 
its  work  of  demolition  imder  the  influence  of 
intercourse  with  foreigners.  But  China's  civilisa- 
tion is  even  older  than  our  own.  For  some  thou- 
sands of  years  it  has  outlived  the  most  destructive 
storms,  rising  gloriously  after  every  devastating 
revolution,  after  every  change  of  dynasty,  after 
every  invasion  of  barbarians,  as  a  phoenix  from  the 
fire.  Can  such  a  civilisation,  so  strong,  so  tena- 
cious, so  deep-rooted,  be  sapped  without  resistance? 
China  has  no  second  system  ready  to  put  in  the 
place  of  the  old  system.  The  death  of  the  old 
must,   accordingly,    mean   total   disorganisation, 


Fung  Shui  319 


anarchy,  destruction — the  fullest  realisation,  in 
short,  of  her  own  holy  doctrine  that,  when  Man 
loses  the  Tao,  catastrophe  and  ruin  are  inevitable. 
Will  this  terrible  prospect  prove  powerful  enough 
to  detain  the  nation  and  its  government  from  the 
path  of  renovation?  The  party  of  conservatism 
no  doubt  has  the  presentiment  that  alteration 
means  self-destruction;  but  shall  this  party  hold 
its  ground,  and  prove  that  the  ancient  Tao  of  the 
Universe  and  Man  is  indestructible?  Sooner 
or  later  history  will  give  the  answer;  but  it  seems 
certain  that  a  stormy  future  is  looming  up  on 
China^s  horizon.  Should  the  Order  of  the  World 
have  decreed  that  the  cruel  work  of  demolition 
shall  be  done,  and  that  the  days  of  China's  Uni- 
versistic  civilisation  are  numbered — then  may  its 
last  day  not  be  for  that  hapless  ancient  nation 
the  crack  of  doom! 


INDEX 


Absolutism,  120 

Almanac,  205;  handbook  for 
the  Tao  of  man,  226;  an 
imperial  publication,  228, 
243;  made  by  the  Khin 
t'ien  kien,  232;  its  distribu- 
tion, 236;  it  represses  and 
removes  evil,  244;  taken  as 
medicine,  244 

Almightiness  or  great  power, 
acquired  by  wu  wei,  69,  102; 
an  attribute  of  holiness  and 
imperial  dignity,  see  Holi- 
ness and  Emperor 

Altars  of  the  State.  Religion, 
190,  194,  195 

Amita  or  Amitabha,  and  his 
Paradise,  175 

Ancestors  of  the  emperor, 
worshipped  with  Heaven, 
192;  and  with  Earth,  194; 
worshipped  in  their  own 
temple  and  at  the  mauso- 
leums, 195 

Ancestor- worship,  176,  211 

Animals,  mildly  treated,  23; 
twelve  divinatory  animals, 
247,  291;  demons,  17 

Animal- worship,  213 

Animation  of  nature,  15 

Animism  is  Universistic,  16,  19 

Anthropolatry,  176 

Anthropo  theism,  176 

Army  of  the  gods,  180 


Asceticism,  65,  123;  classical, 

136;  in  Buddhism,  142 
Astrologers,  232 
Astrology,  259,  291 

B 

Breath  (khi)  is  the  soul,  156. 
See  Respiration 

Buddhas,  gods  of  universal 
light,  141 

Buddhism,  introduced  into 
China,  3;  its  monastic  life, 
142;  persecution  of  its  sects, 
^4;  versus  Taoism,  142,  314 


Calendar,  enables  man  to  live 
in  accordance  with  the  Tao, 
216;  made  by  imperial  gov- 
ernment, 216 

Calendrical  customs  and  rules 
of  life,  218 

Canon  of  Taoism,  188 

Chang  Kioh,  184 

Chang  Liang,  163 

Chang  Lu,  184 

Chang  Sin,  184 

Chang  (Tao-)  ling,  163,  182 

Chaos  deified,  181 

Character  (sing)  of  man,  pro- 
duced by  the  Tao,  32;  or 
by  Heaven,  35;  consists  of 
four  cardinal  virtues,  34; 
naturally  good,  33,  35,  80; 
naturally  depraved,  36 


321 


322 


Index 


CA^«,  holiness,  8i,  102 

Childlessness  a  punishment,  23 

ChHng  or  holiness,  82,  102 

Chronology,  229 

Chronomancy,  234,  290;  a 
holy  science,  232,  244 

Chung,  "emptiness"  or  "dis- 
passion,"  56,  109,  132 

Chung  yung,  a  classic,  34;  on 
holiness,  106;  its  great  value, 
108 

Chwang  Cheu  or  Chwang-tszg, 
28, 125 

City  walls,  their  gods,  203,  208 

Classicism  or  Confucianism, 
6,  9;  is  orthodoxy  and  dog- 
matism, 40;  is  Universism, 
90 

Classics,  bibles  of  Confucian- 
ism and  Taoism,  5,  40,  91; 
text-books  for  the  Tao  of 
man,  40;  their  titles,  92; 
protect  against~der7ilsL-and 
evil,  154;  text-books  for  the 
organisation  of  the  State,  5, 
216 

Clouds  worshipped,  192,  200 

Compass  of  geomancers,  292 

Compliance,  a  Universistic  vir- 
tue, 51;  in  the  system  of 
government,  55 

Confucianism,   is  Universism, 
3.  5.90,  189;  its  gods,  189 
See  Classicism 

Confucius,  3,  15,  17,  43;  the 
holiest  man,  103;  his  rela- 
tion with  the  Classics,  91; 
was  a  good  Taoist,  132; 
visited  Lao-tsz€,  132;  wor- 
shipped in  the  ^  State  Reli- 
gion, 199;  his  saint  disciples, 
104 

Constitution  of  China  is  classi- 
cal and  Universistic,  5,  216 

Cosmism,  176 

Creation  the  yearly  renovation 
of  nature,  8.     See  Tao. 


D 


Dead,  disposal  of,  a  source  of 
blessing  or  punishment,  22; 
an  object  of  legislation,  22 

Demons  and  their  doings,  16; 
classified  by  Confucius,  17; 
take  revenge,  23;  punish  the 
bad  and  reward  the  good, 
22;  disarmed  by  gods  and 
the  worship  of  gods,  21,  152; 
disarmed  by  virtue  and 
study,  150;  and  by  the 
Classics,  154;  and  by  the 
emperor,  mandarins,  and 
scholars,  152;  fought  by  the 
armies  of  the  gods,  180; 
animals,  plants,  and  objects, 

17 

Devils,  see  Demons 

Disciples  of  Confucius,  104 

Dispassion,  a  Universistic  vir- 
tue, 61,  no,  132;  created  by 
the  It,  no;  and  by  music, 
112.     5eg  Passions 

Divination  among  the  people, 
282 

Divinatory  observation  of  the 
Universe,  249;  of  heaven, 
258;  of  earth,  269;  of  man, 
271;  of  animals,  273;  of 
plants,  277;  of  objects,  228 

Divinity  {shen)  of  man, 
reached  by  virtue  and  wis- 
dom, 62,  106.    See  Holiness 

Doctors  of  the  Tao,  124;  de- 
scribed by  Lao-tszg,  130. 
See  Tao  shi 

Dragons,  274;  worshipped  in 
the  State  Religion,  199 


B 


Earth  worshipped,  194,  212 
Eclipses,  258 


Index 


323 


Elements  which  constitute  the 
Universe  and  man,  11,  12; 
assimilated  with  the  five 
planets,  246,  297 

Emperor,  the  supreme  guide 
in  the  Tao,  and  distributer 
of  its  blessings,  114,  223;  the 
most  virtuous  and  most 
learned  man,  93;  loses  the 
throne  if  not  virtuous,  99; 
is  almighty,  115,  121;  a 
saint  and  a  god,  103,  107, 
153,  177;  chief  of  the  gods, 
99,  112,  152;  rules  by  means 
of  the  Tao  of  Heaven,  116; 
is  the  son  of  Heaven,  114; 
reigns  by  Heaven's  grace 
and  will,  190;  an  object  of 
worship,  114,  121,  197;  the 
owner  of  the  empire,  120; 
his  absolutism,  120;  high 
priest  of  the  State  Religion, 
192;  chief  exorcist,  153; 
consults  the  Universe,  .^ee 
Divinatory;  duties  con- 
cerning the  almanac,  159. 
See  Ancestors 

Empire  created  in  the  third 
century  B.C.,  3 

"Emptiness,"  a  universaHstic 
virtue,  disinterestedness, 
self-effacement,  abnegation, 
56,90 

Examinations  for  the  State 
service,  influenced  upon  by 
spirits,  24;  based  upon  Clas- 
sicism, 42,  93 

Exorcising  magic,  152 

Exorcism  at  marriage,  154 


Filial  submission  and  devotion 

Qiiao),  III,  177 
Fire  worshipped,  208 
Fuh-hi,  102;  worshipped,  198, 

206 


Fung  shut,  285 ;  of  temples,  286, 
313;  of  graves,  286, 288, 302; 
imperial,  289;  professors, 
290,  301,  313;  compass,  292 


Geomancy,  see  Fung  shut 

Gods,  parts  and  phenomena  of 
the  Universe,  176;  holy  men, 
85,  140;  ancestors,  177;  do 
not  eat,  84,  161 ;  how  con- 
sulted, 279;  of  the  people, 
213.     SeeShen 

Goodness,  natural,  see  Char- 
acter 

Government,  an  institution  of 
Universism,  122;  a  realisa- 
tion of  the  Tao  of  man,  216 

Ground  deified  and  wor- 
shipped, 195 

Gymnastics,  see  Respiration 


H 


Hagiography  of  Taoism,  139 

Han  Fei,  88 

Heaven,  deified,  8, 19,  179, 190; 
worshipped  at  winter  sol- 
stice, 191;  for  the  harvest 
and  for  rain,  1 93 ;  rewards  and 
punishes  through  gods  and 
devils,  21 

Heresy,  42 

Hermits  of  Taoism,  139 

Hia  siao  ching,  217 

Hiao,  III,  178 

Hien,  great  virtue  and  wis- 
dom, 102 

Historiography,  229 

Holiness,  divinity,  or  perfec- 
tion, 82,  104,  107;  attainable 
by  asceticism  and  retire- 
ment, 123;  confers  almighti- 
ness,  87,  145;  confers  lon- 
gevity, 143;  in  Buddhism, 
142.  See  Emperor  and  Saints 


324 


Index 


Horoscope,  291 

Humility  a  Universistic  vir- 
tue, 56 

Hwa-t'o,  163 

Hwang-ti,  102,  138,  145,  167; 
worshipped,  198,  206 


Idols  are  animated,  206 
Immortal    saints,    see    Saints 

and  Sien 
Immortality,  see  Longevity 
Impartiality     a     Universistic 

duty,  49 
"  Inaction, "  see  Wu  wet 
Instruction,  leading  to  virtue, 

35;  obedience  and  peace,  46; 

by  means  of  the  Classics,  91 ; 

given  to  heirs-apparent,  96 
Intolerance  in  religion,  2,  4,  43 
I-yin,  a  saint,  99,  103 


Jupiter,  observed,    250;    wor- 
shipped, 205 


K 


Khin  t'ien  kien,  232,  250 
Khung  Kih,  36, 104,  no 
Ki  lift,  274 
Kiiin  tsze,  a  man  very  wise  and 

virtuous,  105 
Knowledge,  see  Wisdom 
Kukin  t'u  shu  tsih  ch'ing,  96, 

225 
Kwa,  281,  293,  307 
Kwan  Chung  or  Kwan-tszS,  29 
Kwan  Yii,  the  God  of  War,  206 
Kwei,  the  Yin  soul  of  man,  12, 
14;  afflatus  constituting  the 
Yin,    14;  spirits  of  evil  or 
devils,  13.     See  Demons 


Lao-tszS,  28;  described  by 
himself,  131;  visited  by 
Confucius,  132;  long-lived, 
150;  journeyed  to  the  west, 
144;  deified,  181;  founder  of 
the  Taoist  church,  182 

Li,  laws  and  rites  of  life,  37, 
39,  42 ;  the  basis  of  the  State 
Religion,  39;  subdue  the 
passions,  no 

Li  ki,ii 

Li  yun,  54,  no 

Liu  Ngan,  83 

Living  without  food,  161 

Longevity,  obtained  by  per- 
fection of  the  soul  or  by 
virtue  and  holiness,  143, 151 ; 
obtained  by  methodical  res- 
piration ,  1 63 ;  by  gymnastics, 
160;  followed  by  absorption 
in  the  Universe,  156 

Lii  Puh-wei,  136,  158 

Lii-shich'un-ts'in,  137 


M 


MaTsu-p'o,  209 
Magic,  white,  152,  186 
Magical  power,  84 
Mahay  ana,  3,  142 
Man,  a  product  of  the  Uni- 
verse, 12;  worshipped,  176, 

197 

Mandarins    have    exorcising 

power,    153;    virtuous    and 

learned  guides  in  the  Tao, 

93»ii8 

Medical  science  is  Universistic, 

169 
Medicines,  Universistic,  172 
Mencius,  4,  36,  43,  66,  106 
Millet  deified,  195  ~^ 

Monasteries,  142 


Index 


325 


Monastic  life  in  Taoism,  142, 
185;  its  object,  144;  influ- 
enced by  that  of  Buddhism, 
141 

Moon  worshipped,  192,  196 

Morality  based  on  Demonism, 
21 

Mountains  worshipped,  195, 
201,209 

Music  subdues  the  passions, 
112 


N 


Naturism,  176 
Nirvana,  141 


Observation  of  natural  phe- 
nomena, see  Divinatory 

Ofiicers,  see  Mandarins 

Omnipotence,  see  Almighti- 
ness 

Orthodoxy,  see  Classicism 


Paradise,  of  the  Taoist  saints, 
i75»  I79»  181;  of  Amitabha, 
175 

Parnassus,  1 80 

Passions,  11 1;  ruled  by  me- 
thodical respiration,  167.  See 
Dispassion 

Patriarchal  organisation  of  the 
family,  177 

P'eng-tsu,  149,  157 

Perfection,  see  Holiness 

Persecution  of  religion,  43 

Pole  worshipped,  208 

Poly  demonism,  16 

Polytheism,  16 

Pontiff  of  Taoism,  182 

Prescience,  108 

Psychology,  13 

Pwan-ku,  181 


Q 


Quiescence  a  Universistic  vir- 
tue, see  Wu  wei 


Rain  worshipped,  192,  200 

Religions,  three  and  yet  one,  i. 
See  State  Religion,  Bud- 
dhism, Taoism 

Respiration,  methodical,  pro- 
longs life,  156,  161;  regulates 
wu  wei,  160;  connected  with 
abstinence  from  food,  162; 
and  with  gymnastics,  i6o, 
171;  cures  disease,  167 

Retirement  from  society,  125, 
140 

Righteousness  a  cardinal  vir- 
tue, III 

Ritualism  of  the  State  Religion 
210-211 

Rivers  worshipped,  195,  202, 
209 

Rulers,  their  conduct  deter- 
mines the  fate  of  their 
peoples,  21 


Saints,  105,  139,  175.  See 
Holiness,  Paradise 

Seas  worshipped,  202 

Sects  of  Buddhism,  44 

Shang-ti  deified  Heaven,  179, 
190 

Shen,  afflatus  constituting  the 
yang  spirits  or  gods,  14,  19, 
176;  the  natural  enemies  of 
evil  spirits,  20;  the  yang 
soul  of  man,  11 ;  invigorated 
by  methodical  breathing, 
162;  _  and  by  swallowing 
certain  substances,  167,  172; 
divinity,  62,  82,  106 


326 


Index 


175. 


Shen-nung,  102;  worshipped, 
197,  198,  206 

Shen-tao  (Shinto),  45 

Shi-hwang,  4,  5 
^  Shi  king,  37 

Shing,  hoHness,  83,  104 
^  Shu  king,  20 
'     Shun,  72,  97,  102,  150 

Si-wang-mu,  174,  181 

Sie  Tsih,  195 

Sien,  Taoist  saints,  140, 
176 

Silence  a  feature  of  the  Uni- 
verse, 77 

Silk,  inventor  of,  worshipped, 
197 

Souls  of  man,  borrowed  from 
the  Yang  and  the  Yin,  11, 
33.    See  Shen  and  Kwei 

Spontaneity  a  feature  of  the 
Tao,  and  a  Universistic  vir- 
tue, 68,  78,  81,  loi 

Stars  worshipped,  192,  205 

State  Religion,  based  on  the 
Classics,  6,  216;  is  Univer- 
sistic, 3,  189,  211,  216; 
idolatrous,  210;  ritualistic, 
211;  based  on  the  li  and  the 
Tao,  37.    See  Confucianism 

Study,  a  prime  necessity,  90, 
95,  109;  prolongs  life  and 
protects  against  devils,  153; 
confers     exorcising     power, 

Suwen,  168 

Suicide,  with  revengeful  pur- 
pose, 23 ;  caused  by  spectres, 

23 

Sun  worshipped,  192,  196 

SzS-ma  Tan,  228 

SzS-ma  Ts'ien,  125,  131,  228 


Ta  Tailiki,  144,218 
Taciturnity  a  Universistic  vir- 
tue, 74 


Vai  hioh,  93 

Tai  Kih,  9 

T'ai  p'ing  religion,  184 

T'ang,  ancient  emperor,  53, 
103,117 

Tao,  or  Order  of  the  Universe, 
it  is  the  Yang  and  the  Yin, 
ID,  31;  just  an  impartial, 
21 ;  produces  and  nourishes 
everything,  33;  the  rotation 
of  the  seasons,  time,  6,  10, 
31,  136,  205,  216;  operates 
spontaneously,  14 ;  the  source 
of  all  blessing  and  goodness, 
32;  produces  the  human 
character,  33;  Tao  of  Heaven 
and  Tao  of  the  Earth,  8 

Tao  of  man,  his  proper  human 
conduct  adapted  to  the 
Order  of  the  Universe,  vir- 
tue, 6,  II,  40;  Chapter  II, 
216;  consists  in  imitation  of 
the  Universe,  48;  is  four 
cardinal  virtues,  35,  40;  is 
the  li,  37;  the  possessor  of 
this  Tao  is  perfect,  46;  and 
powerful,  47;  and  a  god,  46; 
it  is  obtained  by  abstraction 
from  life  and  the  world,  124, 
135.  See  Calendar  and 
Calendrical 

Taoist  religion  organised,  182 

Tao  shi,  doctors  of  the  Tao, 
124,  130;  priests,  186;  exor- 
cising magicians,  153,  185; 
physicians,  186 

Temples,  193 

Thimder  worshipped,  192,  200 

Time,  deified,  234;  life  in 
accordance  with,  216.  See 
Tao 

Tree  worship,  214 

Triratna,  315 

Ts'ang-kieh,  155 

Tso  ch'wen,  21 

TszS-szS,  see  Khung  PCih 

Tung  Chung-shu,  160 


Index 


327 


Tung-wang-kung,  181 
U 

Universe,  the  basis  of  philo- 
sophy and  religion,  4,  8,  32 
176 

Universism  or  Taoism,  of  un- 
known origin,  5.  See  Con- 
fucianism 

Unselfishness  a  Universistic 
virtue,  51 


Virtue  is  assimilation  with  the 
Tao,  see  Tao  of  man;  car- 
dinal virtues,  35;  emanate 
from  heaven,  35,  81;  pos- 
sessed by  saints,  84;  fruits 
of  instruction  and  wisdom, 
90,  104,  154;  virtues  indis- 
pensable to  emperors,  99;  is 
to  be  cultivated  without 
activity,  75,  136;  confers 
longevity,  144;  protects 
against  devils,  154 

W 

Wen  of  the  Chen  dynasty,  103 
Wen-ch'ang,    the    patron    di- 
vinity of  classical  study,  207 


Wind  worshipped,  193,  200 

Wisdom,  a  cardinal  virtue,  35; 
rejected  by  Taoists,  63; 
laid  stress  upon  by  Confuci- 
anism, 65,  82,  90;  identical 
with  virtue,  92 

Wu  of  the  Chen  dynasty,  53, 
102,117 

Wu  wet  or  "Inaction,"  qui- 
escence, placidity,  62, 64,  67, 
83,  1 01,  128;  affords  power 
and  almightiness,  72;  re- 
commended by  Confucius, 
72,  135;  to  be  observed  with 
regard  to  the  cardinal  vir- 
tues, 76,  137;  regulated  by 
respiration,  160;  wu  wet  and 
Nirvana,  141 


Yang,  assimilated  with  heaven, 
11;  deified,  181;  Yang  and 
Yin  constitute  the  Tao,  10, 
32 

Yao,  102,  227 

Yih,  the  processes  of  Nature,  10 

Yih  king,  9,  10,  15,  20,  32,  33, 
281 

Yin,  assimilated  with  the  earth, 
11;  deified,  181.     See  Yang 

Yii,  59,  98,  102,  117,  249 

Yushling,  136,  218 


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